noun

royalty

ROY-uhl-tee/ˈrɔɪəlti/

Payment to an owner for use of that owner's property or creative work.

The author receives a royalty payment for sales of her books.

A South Asian author receives a payment statement beside stacks of her published books, no readable text.

Etymology

royLatinking

+alLatinpertaining to

+tyLatinquality or condition

Originally naming royal authority, royalty came to mean a sovereign’s privileges, then rights granted to others. From those rights developed the payment sense: first for using a landowner’s mine, later for using an author’s or composer’s work.

In context

FORGOTTEN HISTORY6:23

He sold the rights to his AC patents to George Westinghouse for a lump sum and later tore up his royalty contract. A decision that may have cost him hundreds of millions of dollars.

6,000 Patents Hidden By The Government | U.S. Invention Secrecy Act

More examples

The contract specifies how royalties are calculated.
They paid a royalty to use the patented design.
Music royalties provided a steady income.

Forms

royalty · royalties

Similar words

fee: A broader charge, not necessarily linked to continuing use or sales.
license payment: Specifically payment for permission to use something.