gift
UK/ɡɪft/
gift noun: something given to another voluntarily, without charge.
Noun (1)
gift (plural gifts)
- Something given to another voluntarily, without charge.
- She gave him a cell phone as a birthday gift.
- “I thank you for the gift, Dr. Yueh,” Paul said, speaking formally. “It will be our secret. If there is a gift or favor you wish from me, please do not hesitate to ask.”
"I . . . need for nothing," Yueh said.1965 October 1, Frank Herbert, “Book I: Dune”, in Dune, Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Book Company; [Toronto], Ont.: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 40
- A talent or natural ability.
- She had a gift for playing the flute.
- “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
- Something gained incidentally, without effort.
- The act, right, or power of giving or bestowing.
- The office is in the gift of the President.
- A footrace, often a short one with a prize, sometimes with a handicap system whereby runners start from different positions based on their past performance.
- […] Stawell Gift Committee requested a special train for the gift's one hundredth anniversary celebration but […]1981, [Victoria] Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), volume 363, page 5391
- [Someone who...] ran second in last year's gift believes the Bill is a good idea. […] Stawell Gift. […]1982, Victoria Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), page 2284
Verb
gift (third-person singular simple present gifts, present participle gifting, simple past and past participle gifted)
- To give as a gift or donation.
- To give away, to concede easily.
- Chelsea threw away two points when substitute Salomon Kalou gifted Valencia a penalty five minutes from time with a needless handball.2011 September 28, Jon Smith, “Valencia 1 - 1 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport
- They drove on, every rise in the road lifting their sightline clear of the drystone dykes along the roadside, gifting glimpses of the firth and the islands, the blue peaks of Arran.2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 440
Noun (2) capitalized: GIFT
GIFT (usually uncountable, plural GIFTs)
- Acronym of gamete intrafallopian transfer.
gift meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
gift in Hindi
- something given to another voluntarily, without charge
- उपहार uphār, देन den, बख़्शिश baxśiś, सौग़ात sauġāt, भेंट bhẽṭ, हदिया hadiyā
gift in Tamil
- something given to another voluntarily, without charge
- பரிசு paricu, அன்பளிப்பு aṉpaḷippu
- talent or natural ability
- திறமை tiṟamai
- something received incidentally, without effort
- கொடுப்பினை koṭuppiṉai
- (transitive) to give as a gift
- பரிசளி paricaḷi, அன்பளி aṉpaḷi
gift in Marathi
- something given to another voluntarily, without charge
- भेटवस्तू bheṭvastū
- talent or natural ability
- भेट bheṭ
gift in Urdu
- something given to another voluntarily, without charge
- تُحْفَہ tuhfa, سَوغات sauġāt, ہَدِیَہ hadiya, بَخْشِش baxśiś, عَطِیَّہ 'atiyya, بھینْٹ bhenṭ
More languagesFewer languages
- gift in Bengali
- উপহার upohar, তোফা tōpha, উপঢৌকন upôḍhoukôn, বকশিশ bôkśiś
- gift in Telugu
- కానుక kānuka, బహుమతి bahumati, వరం varaṁ, బహూకరించు bahūkariñcu
- gift in Malayalam
- സമ്മാനം sammānaṁ, കഴിവ് kaḻivŭ
- gift in Kannada
- ಕೊಡುಗೆ koḍuge
- gift in Punjabi
- ਉਪਹਾਰ upahār, ਤੋਹਫ਼ਾ tohfā
- gift in Gujarati
- ભેટ bheṭ, બક્ષિશ bakṣiś
- gift in Odia
- ଦାନ dāna
- gift in Sanskrit
- मघ magha, उपहार upahāra, दान dāna, दुवस् duvas
- gift in Sinhala
- තෑග්ග tǣgga
- gift in Assamese
- উপহাৰ upohar
- gift in Nepali
- उपहार upahār
- gift in Pashto
- ارمغان armaǧãn, بخشش baxšᶕš, تارتوک tārtúk, تحفه tohfá
- gift in Tagalog
- regalo, bigay, pasalubong, talento
- gift in Arabic
- هَدِيَّة hadiyya, هدية hedeya, كادو kādu, قَرِيحَة qarīḥa
- gift in Malay
- hadiah
- gift in Indonesian
- hadiah, kado
- gift in Persian
- هَدِیِه hadiye, پیشْکِش piškeš, کادو kâdo, تُحْفِه tohfe
- gift in Thai
- ของขวัญ kɔ̌ɔng-kwǎn, ของกำนัล kɔ̌ɔng-gam-nan, ของฝาก kɔ̌ɔng-fàak, กำนัล gam-nan
- gift in Vietnamese
- quà, quà tặng, quà biếu, tặng
- gift in Myanmar
- ပဏ္ဏာ panna
- Dhivehi
- ހަދިޔާ hadiyā
- Kashmiri
- ڈٲلؠ ḍạ̄l', تۄحفہٕ tọhfụ
Examples of gift in a sentence
- But now I know, but now I really know / Of only one thing I am truly very sure / Love is a gift, love is a gift1974, “But Now I Know”, Jean-Loup Dabadie (lyrics)performed by Jean Gabin:
- She bought the model as a surprise gift for a friend who is a lifelong HST fan and railwayman, and who will soon be celebrating a milestone birthday.2021 October 20, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 942, page 71:
- […] Stawell Gift, which is held during the Easter break.1990, Victoria Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), page 865
- The Castlemaine Gift is an annual professional running event for all ages listed on the Victorian Athletic League calendar.c. 2026, Castlemaine Gift Athletics Carnival 2026 (Mount Alexander Shire Council)
Synonyms of gift
- gift For beneficial actions
- ability
- aptitude
- knack
- talent
- strength
- favor
- benefaction
- concession
- grant
Forms of gift
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | gifts |
| plural | GIFTs |
| alternative form (dialectal) | yift |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | gifts |
| present participle | gifting |
| past participle | gifted |
| past | gifted |
Origin of gift
From Middle English yifte, ȝift, partly from Old English ġift, ġyft (“giving, consideration, dowry, wedding”) and Old Norse gipt (“gift, present, wedding”); both from Proto-Germanic *giftiz (“gift”). Equivalent to give + -t (etymologically yive + -t). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian jefte (“gift”), Dutch gift (“gift”) and its doublet gif (“poison”), German Gift (“poison”), Luxembourgish Gëft (“poison”), Vilamovian gejft, gyjft (“poison”), Yiddish גיפֿט (gift, “poison”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish gift (“poison”), Icelandic gift (“gift”). Doublet of yift. Distantly related to English habit, from Latin habitus.
Words formed from gift
- bride gift
- countergift
- don't look a gift horse in the mouth
- ecogift
- e-gift certificate
- engift
- fore-gift
- foregift
- gag gift
- giftbag
- gift bag
- gift basket
- giftbook
- giftbox
- gift card
- giftcard
- gift certificate
- gift economy
- giftfic
- gift from above
- gift from heaven
- gift from the goddesses
- gift from the gods
- gift from the heavens
- giftful
- gift giver
- gift-giving
- gift hall
- gift horse
- giftless
- giftlet
- giftling
- Giftmas
- gift matching
- gift of gab
- gift of the gab
- gift of tongues
- giftpack
- gift receipt
- gift registry
- gift rope
- giftset
- gift set
- gift shop
- gift suite
- gift tax
- gift that keeps on giving
- gift token
- gift voucher
- giftware
- gift-wrap
- giftwrap
- gift wrap
- gift-wrapping
- gifty
- god-bairn gift
- God's gift
- God's gift to men
- God's gift to women
- Greek gift
Phrases with gift
Words that rhyme with gift
Questions about gift
- What does gift mean?
- Gift means something given to another voluntarily, without charge.
- What is gift in Hindi?
- Gift in Hindi is उपहार (uphār), देन (den), बख़्शिश (baxśiś). See Gift meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use gift in a sentence?
- But now I know, but now I really know / Of only one thing I am truly very sure / Love is a gift, love is a gift
- What part of speech is gift?
- Gift can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce gift?
- Gift is pronounced /ɡɪft/ (UK).
- What is the plural of gift?
- The plural of gift is gifts.
Words near gift in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gift (page history and authors); GIFT (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-gift.ogg.
Cite this entry: “gift.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gift. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.