honorarium

An honorarium is a payment for special, professional services that don’t technically require compensation or for which payment isn’t customarily given.

An honorarium is usually given as an appreciative gesture for services outside of one’s normal job—it’s not a salary.

More generally, it can refer to a one-time fee paid to a professional for their services.

The correct plural of honorarium can be either honorariums or honoraria. Technically speaking, honoraria is the Latin-based plural form of honorarium. (Many other Latin-derived words can be pluralized in the same way, but many are rarely used, such as stadia as the plural for stadium.)

Example: I was paid a modest honorarium for the summer poetry workshop that I led.

The first records of honorarium come from the 1600s. The word comes from the Latin honōrārium, meaning “fee paid on taking office.” In Latin, honōrārium is the noun form of the adjective honōrārius, meaning “honorary.”

Should you ever be invited to be a speaker at a conference, you might receive an honorarium. It’s kind of like a gift for your time and expertise. Such payments are sometimes referred to as ex gratia—meaning they’re given as a gift rather than as a formal, required payment. An honorarium isn’t a freelance payment or a salary (though it is usually considered taxable income). An honorarium is also different than a stipend (a periodic payment) or a per diem (a daily allowance to cover expenses), though it could be used to cover the expenses of traveling to speak at a conference, for example. (Our advice? When you do work or offer your expertise, require payment, regardless of what the payment is called.)

What are some other forms related to honorarium?

• honorariums (plural)
• honoraria (plural)

What are some words that share a root or word element with honorarium? 

• honorary
• honoree
• honorable

What are some words that often get used in discussing honorarium?

• compensation
• fee
• payment
• engagement
• consultation
• conference
• speaker
• lecture
• gratuity 
• gift

Honorariums are frequently given in the sectors of academia, government, religious institutions, and nonprofits.

Elsevier offered me $100 to write a 4,000 to 8,000 word chapter for their International Encyclopedia of Education. I offered to waive the honorarium if they would make my chapter open access. They declined. A month ago, I made a similar offer to @JohnCattEd. They accepted.

— Dylan Wiliam (@dylanwiliam) February 17, 2020

My university refused to hire this longtime contingent faculty member who was the only person in our department whose classes were consistently filled, so he left. They brought him back to keynote for BHM. His honorarium is almost as much as what he was paid to teach 1 class.

— Kayla Renée Wheeler (@krw18) February 5, 2020

I've made it. I just got a speaking offer with a 2k honorarium. To talk about social media and science. I don't do this for the money, but when folks budget for scicomm speakers, my heart soars.

— Dr. Paige Jarreau (@FromTheLabBench) January 6, 2020

Which of the following words is LEAST likely to be used in reference to an honorarium?

A. gift
B. compensation
C. salary
D. fee