dividend

From Middle French dividende, from Latin dividendum (“thing to be divided”), future passive participle of divido (“to divide”), by surface analysis, divide +‎ -end.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪvɪdɛnd/

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dividend (plural dividends)

1. (finance) A cash payment of money by a company to its shareholders, usually made periodically (e.g., quarterly or annually).
   • 1861, Laws of Pennsylvania of the Session of 1861, page 511:

     On all dividends which do not exceed six per centum per annum, eight per centum; on dividends exceeding six per centum and not exceeding seven per centum, a tax of nine per centum...

   • 2022 September 14, Paul R. La Monica, “As markets wobble, buy the stocks that pay you back”, in CNN Business‎^[1]:

     Quarterly or annual dividend payments provide good income streams for investors who need cash in the short-term. And for those playing the longer game, dividends can be reinvested to buy even more shares in those same companies.

2. (arithmetic) A number or expression that is to be divided by another.

   In "42 ÷ 3" the dividend is the 42.

3. (figuratively) Beneficial results from a metaphorical investment (of time, effort, etc.)

   His 10,000 hours of practice and recitals eventually paid dividends when he become first-chair violinist.

   • 2012, Cameron Haley, Retribution‎^[2]:

     That blood and pain paid a dividend, too, even when the subject wasn't a sorcerer.

   • 2014, Bobby Adair, Slow Burn: Dead Fire, Book 4:‎^[3]:

     The money I'd spent on getting scuba certified was about to pay a dividend. My half-baked escape plan came together.

   • 2016, Christina Stead, The Beauties and Furies‎^[4], page 163:

     'Why not: you, Elvira, will shortly pay a dividend, that is, have a child.'

   • 2021 March 19, Frida Ghitis, “The GOP’s xenophobia is fueling toxic culture of hate”, in CNN‎^[5]:

     The United States is not the only country where xenophobia pays dividends for politicians.

• (finance: pro rata payment): regular dividend, special dividend

dividend (third-person singular simple present dividends, present participle dividending, simple past and past participle dividended)

1. (transitive) To pay out a dividend.
   • 1997, Shareholder Rights, Oppression and Good Faith, page 40:

     He held instead that the words "sell or otherwise dispose of" in Clause 2 of the Shareholders' Agreement prevented the dividending of the shares in Hawker Holdings to the shareholders of Hawker Siddeley […]

   • 2007, Kevin K. Boeh, Paul W. Beamish, Mergers and Acquisitions: Text and Cases, page 324:

     Therefore, $125 million of 1983 Preferred Shares (Blue Jay) would be tendered for retirement with $135 million of the $370 million dividended up to Blue Jay.

Other terms used in arithmetic operations:

Advanced hyperoperations: tetration, pentation, hexation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [di.βiˈðen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [di.viˈðent]

dividend m (plural dividends)

1. (arithmetic) dividend
2. (finance) dividend

• dividir

• “dividend”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Borrowed from French dividende.

• IPA^(key): /di.viˈdend/

dividend n (plural dividende)

1. dividend

• “dividend”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

dividend c

1. (arithmetic) dividend
2. (finance, Finland) dividend

• (finance): utdelning