Harmed or broken in some way, or to cause harm or injury to something.
From Old French 'damage' meaning 'loss or harm,' derived from Latin 'damnum' meaning 'loss or injury.' The word entered English through Norman French after 1066 and originally referred to financial loss before expanding to physical harm.
The word 'damage' originally meant just financial loss in medieval France—it's only over centuries that English speakers started using it for any kind of harm, showing how meanings shift when people start applying old words to new situations.
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