Rewarde

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A prize or recompense given in return for service or merit ; to repay someone with a gift or honor for their deeds
2. Something bestowed as payment for good conduct or effort ; to grant a recognition or payment to a person who has earned it
3. A return given for deeds or merit, often a sum of money or an honor ; to compensate or honor a person for good service

Etymology: Before "reward" meant a prize for good conduct, it meant attention or regard. English borrowed it in the 1200s from Anglo-Norman and Old French, where "reguarder" combined "re-" (back, again) with "garder," meaning to look at, watch, or heed. A reward, in the older sense, was a kind of looking back at what someone had done, and the idea of recompense grew out of that notion of considering a person's deeds. "Garder" comes from a Germanic verb meaning "to watch," which also gave English "ward" and "warden." When Norman French took that Germanic "w" sound, it often turned it into "gu," so the same root produced "guard" in English through French, while "reward" entered through a different route. The two words are cousins, both traceable to the idea of keeping watch, one through the sense of guarding and the other through the sense of looking back.

Synonyms: recompense, prize, payment

Antonyms: punishment, penalty