charge

Few words carry so many meanings in one transaction. A driver arrives with a low charge, pays a charge, and leaves having charged. Three senses, one stop, all in the same word.

The English word comes through French from the Latin carricare, to load a cart. The first charge was a load, carried. A battery is still exactly that: a load of energy, carried.

Which sense the driver cares about depends on the moment. Before the stop, it is the first. At the end of the month, it is the second. The third, the act itself, should be the one they never think about. See tariff and kilowatt.