penalty
Meaning
A punishment for breaking a law, rule, or contract.
A disadvantage imposed on a player or team for breaking a rule in sports.
A kick awarded to a team in soccer or rugby because of an offense by the opposing team, typically one taken from a specified spot in front of the goal.
Structure
Usage
The law imposes a severe financial penalty for tax evasion.
The referee awarded a penalty to the home team after a foul in the box.
There is a penalty for early withdrawal from the retirement account.
Etymology
The word 'penalty' originates from the Medieval Latin term 'penalitas', which itself is derived from the Latin 'poenalis', meaning 'pertaining to punishment'. The core root is 'poena', a Latin borrowing from the Greek 'poinē', signifying 'price paid, penalty, or blood-money'. This Greek term is traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root kʷoyneh₂-, meaning 'payment' or 'atonement'. The semantic journey illustrates a shift from the concrete concept of a compensatory payment or fine for a wrong, through the legal notion of a punitive consequence, to its modern abstract and specialized meanings in law and sports.
Analysis
pen (Latin, from 'poena', meaning 'punishment' or 'penalty'); al (Latin adjectival suffix '-alis', forming adjectives meaning 'of or pertaining to'); ty (Latin noun-forming suffix '-tas', indicating a state or condition).