Ransom

The Ransom by John Everett Millais (c. 1860)

Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release. It also refers to the sum of money paid by the other party to secure a captive's freedom. It can also refer to paying such a ransom.

When ransom means "payment", the word comes via French rançon (from Old French "ranson") from Latin redemptio, 'buying back'; compare "redemption".

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.