【Wage】 , 【wages】 , 【salary】 , 【stipend】 , 【fee】 , 【pay】 , 【hire】 , 【emolument】 can all mean the price paid a person for his labor or services.
【Wage】 or 【wages】 applies chiefly to an amount paid on a daily, hourly, or piecework basis and typically at weekly intervals for labor, especially labor that involves more physical than mental effort.
【Salary】 and 【stipend】 both usually apply to compensation at a fixed, often annual, rate that is paid in regular (as weekly or monthly) installments but 【stipend】 is more likely to apply to the compensation of a teacher, a clergyman, or a magistrate, or it may denote money received from a scholarship or a pension.
【Fee】 applies to the price usually in the form of a fixed charge, asked or paid for the service of a professional (as a physician, lawyer, musician, or artist) when such service is requested or required.
【Pay】 can replace 【wages】 , 【salary】 , or 【stipend】 and is the one of these four terms freely used in combination and attributively.
【Hire】 , which basically denotes payment made for the temporary use of something (as the property or money of another), is occasionally and especially in legal use applied to compensation for labor or services and is then equivalent to 【wages】 or 【salary】 .
【Emolument】 , usually in the plural, often means the financial reward of one's work or office or more specifically rewards and perquisites other than 【wages】 or 【salary】 .
