Word of the Day

: November 3, 2007

guerdon

noun GUR-dun

What It Means

: reward, recompense

guerdon in Context

"This early promotion . . . was his guerdon for a quarter of a century of getting things done." (Herman Wouk, The Winds of War)

Did You Know?

"Guerdon" dates back to the 14th century, when Geoffrey Chaucer used it in The Romaunt of the Rose (ca. 1366): "He quitte him wel his guerdon there." It derives from Anglo-French and is thought to be related to the Old High German "widarlōn," meaning "reward." Shakespeare used "guerdon" a couple of times in his plays. In Love's Labour's Lost, for example, Berowne, attendant to King Ferdinand, sends the clown Costard to deliver a letter to Rosaline, attendant to the princess of France, handing him a shilling with the line, "There's thy guerdon; go." "Guerdon" is a rare word today, but contemporary writers do use it on occasion for poetic effect.