Other forms: donations
A donation is money or goods given freely to help a cause. Make a donation, a generous donation, donations welcome.
The word implies no return — that is what separates it from a payment or an investment. Charities speak of one-off and regular donations, and in Britain Gift Aid lets a charity reclaim tax on them. Blood donation and organ donation are the medical uses, where the thing given is not money. Note donor, the person giving; donate, the verb, which was back-formed from this noun; and anonymous donation.
1noundonationMoney or goods given freely to help a cause.
“The donation covered the roof and half the windows.”
synonyms: contribution, gift
donation is a gift.
Also accepted in games: contribution
Latin donatio comes from donare, to give, from donum, a gift — the same root as donor and pardon. English had donation for centuries before anybody thought to make a verb out of it.
Proto-Indo-European
*deh₃-
Latin
dōnātiō — a present
Middle French
donation
Middle English
donacion
English, today
donation
Built from
From Middle English donacion, donation, from Middle French donation, from Latin dōnātiō (“a present”), from dōnō (“to give”), from dōnum (“a gift”). Recorded in English since the 15th century. Equivalent to donate + ion.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA