Meaning
A burden; a weight to be carried.
Etymology
Origin: Old English
The sense of “burden” first arose in the 13th century as a secondary meaning of Middle English lode, loade, which had the main significance of “way, course, journey”, from Old English lād (“course, journey; way, street, waterway; leading, carrying; maintenance, support”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *laidō (“leading, way”), Proto-Indo-European *leyt- (“to go, go forth, die”). Cognate with Middle Low German leide (“entourage, escort”), German Leite (“line, course, load”), Swedish led (“way, trail, line”), Icelandic leið (“way, course, route”). As such, load is a doublet of lode, which has preserved the older meaning. Most likely, the semantic extension of the Middle English substantive arose by conflation with the (etymologically unrelated) verb lade; however, Middle English lode occurs only as a substantive; the transitive verb load (“to charge with a load”) is recorded only in the 16th century (frequently in Shakespeare), and (except for the participle laden) has largely supplanted lade in modern English. For the meaning development from PIE, compare Latin carrus (whence carry) akin to currō.
Synonyms & Antonyms
NYT Puzzle Appearances
Accepted in 16 recorded puzzles:
- 2026-10-07ABDFLOR
- 2026-08-31LABDORY
- 2026-07-03ADILNOR
- 2026-05-17LACDORT
- 2026-01-19DARWKLO
- 2025-08-11DAOYIHL
- 2025-07-19ABLDCIO
- 2025-04-30DANIGLO
- 2025-04-09OARLDMU
- 2025-03-24OALRIDB
- 2025-02-19AOCLEDK
- 2024-08-26ADOIHLY
+4 earlier appearances in the archive.