badge

See also: badgé

English

A badge.

Etymology

From Middle English badge, bagge, bage, bagy, from Anglo-Norman bage or Medieval Latin bagea, bagia (“sign, emblem”), of uncertain origin. Possibly derived from Medieval Latin baga (“ring”), from Old Saxon bāg, bōg (“ring, ornament”), from Proto-Germanic *baugaz (“ring, bracelet, armband”); or possibly the Anglo-Norman word is derived from an earlier, unattested English word (compare Old English bēag (“ring, bracelet, collar, crown”). Cognate with Scots bagie, badgie, bawgy (“badge”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bæd͡ʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ædʒ

Noun

badge (plural badges)

1. A distinctive mark, token, sign, emblem or cognizance, worn on one’s clothing, as an insignia of some rank, or of the membership of an organization.

   the badge of a society; the badge of a policeman

   • 1843, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     Tax-gatherers, […] recognized by their official badges.

2. A small nameplate, identifying the wearer, and often giving additional information.
3. A card, sometimes with a barcode or magnetic strip, granting access to a certain area.
4. Something characteristic; a mark; a token.
   • 1588-93, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, act I, scene 2:

     Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.

5. (obsolete, thieves' cant) A brand on the hand of a thief, etc.

   He has got his badge, and piked. ― He was branded on the hand, and is at liberty.

6. (nautical) A carved ornament on the stern of a vessel, containing a window or the representation of one.
7. (heraldry) A distinctive mark worn by servants, retainers, and followers of royalty or nobility, who, being beneath the rank of gentlemen, have no right to armorial bearings.
8. (graphical user interface) A small overlay on an icon that shows additional information about that item, such as the number of new alerts or messages.
9. (Internet, video games) An icon or emblem awarded to a user for some achievement.

   When you have checked in to the site from ten different cities, you unlock the Traveller badge.

10. (slang) A police officer.
    • 1995, Martin Scorsese, Casino, spoken by actor (Robert De Niro):

      That's why every badge back home wanted to nail him.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:badge

Derived terms

• badge bunny
• badge-cove
• badge drinking
• badgeless
• badgelike
• badgemaking
• badgeman
• badge of honor, badge of honour
• badge of merit
• badger
• badgework
• blue badge
• cap badge
• case badge
• debadge
• film badge
• film badge holder
• juice badge
• merit badge
• merit badge college
• merit badge university
• pilgrim badge
• proficiency badge
• quarter badge
• rank badge
• rebadge
• rusty sheriff's badge
• wear as a badge of honor, wear something as a badge of honor
• yellow badge

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: バッジ (bajji)
• → Korean: 배지 (baeji)

Translations

distinctive mark

• Albanian: emblemë (sq) f
• Arabic: شَارَة f (šāra)

  Gulf Arabic: باجة f (bāja)

• Armenian: կրծքանշան (hy) (krckʻanšan)
• Azerbaijani: nişan (az), rozet
• Belarusian: значо́к m (značók), знак (be) m (znak)
• Bulgarian: значка (bg) (značka)
• Burmese: ရင်ထိုးတံဆိပ် (my) (ranghtui:tamhcip), အဆောင်အယောင်တံဆိပ် sg or c or c du (a.hcaung-a.yaungtamhcip)
• Catalan: xapa (ca) f, insígnia (ca) f, distintiu
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 徽章 (zh) (huīzhāng), 象徵／象征 (zh) (xiàngzhēng), 徽號／徽号 (zh) (huīhào)

• Czech: odznak m
• Danish: mærke n, emblem (da) n
• Estonian: märk (et), tunnus
• Finnish: merkki (fi), tunnus (fi), arvomerkki
• French: plaque (fr) f, insigne (fr) m, décoration (fr) f, macaron (fr) m
• Georgian: ნიშანი (ka) (nišani)
• German: Abzeichen (de) n
• Hindi: बैज (hi) (baij)
• Hungarian: jelvény (hu), jelkép (hu), embléma (hu)
• Ido: insigno (io)
• Italian: distintivo (it), insegna (it) f
• Japanese: バッジ (ja) (bajji)
• Kazakh: значок (znaçok)
• Korean: 배지 (baeji)
• Kyrgyz: значок (ky) (znacok)
• Latvian: emblēma f
• Lithuanian: ženklelis m, ženkliukas m
• Macedonian: значка f (značka)
• Malay: lencana (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skilt (no) n, emblem

• Persian: نشان (fa) (nešân)
• Plautdietsch: Spald f
• Polish: odznaka (pl) f, blacha (pl) f (colloquial, typically of a police badge)
• Portuguese: distintivo (pt) m, crachá (pt) m
• Romanian: distincție (ro) f, insignă (ro) f
• Russian: значо́к (ru) m (značók), (нагру́дный) знак m ((nagrúdnyj) znak), эмбле́ма (ru) f (embléma), кока́рда (ru) f (kokárda) (cockade), бля́ха (ru) f (bljáxa) (on a belt)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: зна̏чка f

  Roman: znȁčka (sh) f

• Slovak: odznak m
• Slovene: značka f
• Spanish: insignia (es) f, pin (es) m, medalla (es) f, piocha (es) f (Chile), placa (es) f, distintivo (es) m, charola (es) f (Mexico), chapa (es) f
• Swahili: beji class n
• Swedish: knapp (sv), emblem (sv), märke (sv)
• Tagalog: tsapa
• Tajik: нишон (tg) (nišon), нишона (nišona)
• Thai: แหนบ (th) (nɛ̀ɛp), สัญลักษณ์ (th) (sǎn-yá-lák)
• Turkish: nişan (tr), rozet (tr)
• Turkmen: nyşan
• Ukrainian: значо́к m (značók), знак m (znak)
• Uzbek: znachok (uz), nishon (uz)
• Vietnamese: huy hiệu (vi)

nameplate

• Cherokee: ᎠᎧᏁᏍᏗ (akanesdi)
• Czech: jmenovka (cs) f
• Finnish: nimilappu (fi), nimikyltti
• French: porte-nom m, badge (fr) m
• German: Namensschild (de) n
• Ido: insigno (io)
• Italian: targhetta (it) f
• Japanese: バッジ (ja) (bajji)
• Portuguese: tarja (pt) f, crachá (pt) m
• Russian: бедж (ru) m (bɛdž), бейдж (ru) m (bɛjdž), бе́джик (ru) m (bɛ́džik), бе́йджик (ru) m (bɛ́jdžik), табли́чка с и́менем f (tablíčka s ímenem)
• Swedish: namnskylt (sv)

card to grant access

• Finnish: kulkukortti
• French: carte d’accès f, badge (fr) m
• Hebrew: תג (he) m
• Italian: cartellino (it)
• Romanian: carte de identificare f
• Spanish: identificación (es) f, credencial f
• Swedish: ID-kort, identifikation (sv), legitimation (sv) c, leg (sv) n

something characteristic

• Bulgarian: признак (bg) (priznak)
• Finnish: tuntomerkki (fi)
• Italian: emblema (it), contrassegno (it)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 象徵／象征 (zh) (xiàngzhēng), ^{(please verify)} 象征 (zh) (xiàngzhēng)
• Portuguese: marca (pt) f
• Swedish: kännetecken (sv)
• Welsh: nodwedd (cy)

carved ornament on the stern of a vessel

• Finnish: peräpeili
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 標記／标记 (zh) (biāojì), ^{(please verify)} 标记 (zh) (biāojì)

Verb

badge (third-person singular simple present badges, present participle badging, simple past and past participle badged)

1. (transitive) To mark or distinguish with a badge.

   The television was badged as ‘GE’, but wasn’t made by them.

2. (transitive) To show a badge to.

   He calmed down a lot when the policeman badged him.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To enter a restricted area by showing one’s badge.
   • 1981, David Simon, Homicide, →ISBN, page 118:

     Worden and James walk […] to the […] Courthouse […] , where they badge their way past sheriff’s deputies and take the elevator to the third floor.

   • 2003, Joseph Wambaugh, Fire Lover, page 146:

     And Patterson didn’t hear that Jack Egger, the studio’s director of security, said he’d seen John Orr badge his way through the pedestrian gate sometime before 4:00 pm, when the fire was still raging, […]

   • 2004, Sergei Hoteko, On The Fringe Of History, page 135:

     Our regional commissioner, his assistant commissioner and our district director, along with their wives, were hoofing it to the rotunda. Apparently they didn’t try and badge their way through.

   • 2006, David Pollino, Bill Pennington, Tony Bradley, Himanshu Dwivedi, Hacker’s challenge 3, page 338:

     Aaron badged into the data center and escorted Geoff inside the large room with its many blinking green lights.

Derived terms

• badge in
• badge out
• badge up

 

Translations

to mark or distinguish with a badge

• Finnish: kiinnittää merkki, myöntää arvomerkki

References

• “badge”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• The Manual of Heraldry, Fifth Edition, by Anonymous, London, 1862, online at [1]

Anagrams

• bedag, begad, debag

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English badge.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /badʒ/
• Homophones: badgent, badges

Noun

badge m (plural badges)

1. identity badge

Verb

badge

1. inflection of badger:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “badge”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.