stake

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun (law) a right or legal share of something; a financial involvement with something
  2. noun a pole or stake set up to mark something (as the start or end of a race track)
  3. noun instrument of execution consisting of a vertical post that a victim is tied to for burning

Etymology

From Middle English stake, from Old English staca (“pin, tack, stake”), from Proto-West Germanic *stakō, from Proto-Germanic *stakô (“stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *stog-, *steg- (“stake”). Cognate with Scots stak, staik, Saterland Frisian Stak, West Frisian staak, Dutch staak, Low German Stake, Norwegian stake, Spanish estaca.

In classic literature

Synonyms

interest

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