jeopardy [ME] The early spelling of jeopardy was iuparti. The word comes from Old French ieu (modern jeu) parti ‘an evenly divided game’, and was originally used in chess and similar games to mean a problem or position in which the chances of winning or losing were evenly balanced. This led to the modern sense ‘a dangerous situation’ [LME] and the modern legal use ‘danger arising from being on trial for a criminal offence’.