gift
How to Use Gift
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishSomething you give someone for free, or a natural talent someone is born with.
As a verb, "gift" can sound overly formal or salesy in everyday speech — "give" is usually more natural ("he gave me a watch" rather than "he gifted me a watch"), though the verb use has become common in casual English.
Word Forms
gifted past tense, gifts plural, gifts singular
Fill the Gap
Can you complete this real example?
She wrapped the _____ and left it under the tree.
Etymology
From Old English gift ("giving, dowry") and Old Norse gipt, both from a Germanic root shared with "give." Interestingly, the same root produced the German word Gift, which now means "poison."