marge

See also: Marge and margé

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /mɑɹd͡ʒ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɑːd͡ʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dʒ

Etymology 1

From French marge, from Latin margo. Doublet of margin and margo.

Noun

marge (plural marges)

1. (archaic) Margin; edge; brink or verge.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     […] And thy sea-marge, sterile and rocky-hard,
     Where thou thyself dost air [...]

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XLV, page 68:

     So be it: there no shade can last
     ⁠In that deep dawn behind the tomb,
     ⁠But clear from marge to marge shall bloom
     The eternal landscape of the past;
     A lifelong tract of time reveal’d; […]

   • 1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night:

     the long curved crest
     Which swells out two leagues from the river marge.

   • 1907, Robert W. Service, “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, in The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses:

     Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; / It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May". / And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum; / Then "Here", said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

Etymology 2

Clipping of margarine.

Alternative forms

• marg

Noun

marge (usually uncountable, plural marges)

1. (informal, UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada) Margarine.
   • 1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 246:

     Or probably all meals coalesced with him in an orgy of thick bread-and-marge and an array of sauce-bottles.

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

marge (plural marges)

1. (MLE) Mother.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:mother

   • 2015, Stormzy, “Shut Up” (track 15), in Gang Signs & Prayer, performed by Stormzy:

     Had four bills and I bought me a car / Little red whip that I bought for my marge

   • 2018, Guy Gunaratne, In Our Mad and Furious City, London: Tinder Press, →ISBN, page unknown:

     I think about my family too. My dad and his failing heart. My marge and her church. I think about what they'll do once I'm gone. Think about the way out, the blue space above.

Anagrams

• Mager, e-gram, gamer, grame, magre, regma

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan margen, from Latin marginem (compare Occitan marge, French marge, Portuguese margem), from Proto-Indo-European *mórǵs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈmar.ʒə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈmaɾ.d͡ʒe]

Noun

marge m (plural marges or margens)

1. margin, edge, border
2. a riverbank, especially when lined with trees; a border planting
3. (economics) margin

Derived terms

• al marge
• fenàs de marge
• marge d'error
• marge de benefici
• marge de confiança

Related terms

• marginal
• marginar

References

• “marge” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “marge”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “marge” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “marge” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Dutch marge, maerge, from Old French marge, from Latin margō.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

marge f (plural marges, diminutive margetje n)

1. margin

   Synonym: kantlijn

Derived terms

• zekerheidsmarge
• onzekerheidsmarge

Related terms

• marginaal

Anagrams

• mager

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French, from Latin marginem, from Proto-Indo-European *mórǵs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maʁʒ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

marge f (plural marges)

1. margin (of paper, etc)
2. (economics, business) markup (percentage or amount added to buy-in price)

Derived terms

• en marge de
• marge de manœuvre
• marger

Descendants

• → Czech: marže
• → German: Marge
• → Polish: marża
• → Russian: маржа (marža)

Further reading

• “marge”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• germa