Mortgage is a temporary, conditional pledge of property to a creditor as security for performance of an obligation or repayment of a debt.

The great jurist Sir Edward Coke, who lived from 1552 to 1634, has explained why the term mortgage comes from the Old French words mort, dead, gage and pledge. It seemed to him that it had to do with doubts as to whether or not the mortgagor will pay the debt. If the mortgagor does not, then the land pledged to the mortgager as security for the debt is taken back.