# gift

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɡɪft/ · frequency rank #1,721

## Definitions
1. Something given to another voluntarily, without charge.
2. A talent or natural ability.
3. Something gained incidentally, without effort.
4. The act, right, or power of giving or bestowing.

## Etymology
From Middle English gift (also yift, yifte, ȝift, ȝeft), partly from Old English ġift (“giving, consideration, dowry, wedding”) and Old Norse gipt (“gift, present, wedding”); both from Proto-Germanic *giftiz (“gift”). Equivalent to give + -t (etymologically yive + -t).
Cognate with West Frisian jefte (“gift”), Saterland Frisian Gift (“gift”), German Low German Gift (“poison”), Dutch gift (“gift”) and its doublet gif (“poison”), German Gift (“poison”), Danish gift (“gift (obsolete); poison, venom”), Swedish gift (“gift, poison, venom”), Icelandic gift (“gift”). Doublet of yift. Distantly related to English habit, from Latin habitus.

## Easily confused with
- **got** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-got)
- **gut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gut)
- **gig** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gig)
- **gin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gin)
- **Gil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gil)
- **GST** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gst)
- **git** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-git)
- **Gio** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gio)
- **grt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-grt)
- **give** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-give)
- **girl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-girl)
- **goat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-goat)
- **gill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gill)
- **gigs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gigs)
- **gina** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gina)
- **grit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-grit)
- **Gigi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gigi)
- **gist** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gist)
- **gust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gust)
- **gilt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gift-vs-gilt)

## Common misspellings (6)
`gfit`, `ggift`, `gifft`, `giftt`, `gitf`, `igft`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/gift