Guerdon

WORD OF THE DAY
guerdon \ GUR-dun \ noun
 
Definition
: reward, recompense


Examples
"The big hurdle … was early promotion to captain. … This early promotion, this small dry irrevocable statistic in the record, was his guerdon for a quarter of a century of getting things done."
— Herman Wouk, The Winds of War, 1971


"The guerdon in attending a repertory company's concert is being able to savor the variety of work on display."
— Juan Michael Porter II, Broadway World, 7 June 2016
 
Did You Know?
Guerdon dates back to the 14th century, when Geoffrey Chaucer used it in The Romaunt of the Rose (ca. 1366): "He quitte him wel his guerdon there." It derives from Anglo-French and is thought to be related to the Old High German widarlōn, meaning "reward." Shakespeare used guerdon a couple of times in his plays.
In Love's Labour's Lost, for example, Berowne, attendant to King Ferdinand, sends the clown Costard to deliver a letter to Rosaline, attendant to the princess of France, handing him a shilling with the line, "There's thy guerdon; go." Guerdon is a rare word today, but contemporary writers do use it on occasion for poetic effect.