cash

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kæʃ/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French casse (“money box”) or its source Italian cassa (“box, money box”),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin capsa (“box, chest”) (see case).^[2][6][7] Barnhart instead derives it from Middle French caisse, from Old Occitan caissa, from Vulgar Latin *capsea, from capsa.^[6] Random House and Hendrickson treat it as a back-formation from cashier.^[8][9] It is unrelated to the Asian coin called cash (Portuguese caixa, from Tamil காசு (kācu, “small coin”)), though each influenced the other's spelling.^[2][4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A box for money, a till (1595 in the OED; 1590s in Etymonline); money in hand is recorded nearly as early.^[11][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Like other financial terms such as bankrupt, the word came through Italian.^[2][5] It first meant the money box, but by the 18th century the secondary sense, the money in it, had become the only one.^[2][4] In banking and commerce it came to mean ready money in coin or notes as opposed to credit or cheques (1599).^[11][4] The verb, to give or obtain cash for a cheque or note, dates from 1811.^[6][11][2] In poker, cash in meant to settle up one's chips (1888), and hence to die (1884, also cash in one's chips);^[11][4] the figurative cash in on, to profit from, followed in 1904.^[11][4] Compounds include cash-book (1622),^[6] cash crop (1831), cash register (1875 in Etymonline, 1879 in Barnhart) and cash flow (1954).^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1593 – first record (Barnhart, Merriam-Webster).^[6][12]
• 1595 – a money box (OED).^[11]
• 1596 – money, ready coin.^[11]
• 1622 – cash-book.^[6]
• 1811 – as a verb, to convert into cash.^[6][11][2]
• 1831 – cash crop.^[2]
• 1884 – cash in, to die.^[11]
• 1904 – cash in on, to profit from.^[11]
• 1954 – cash flow.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Money in the form of coins or banknotes.
2. Immediate payment for goods or services, as opposed to credit.
3. (informal) Money; wealth.
4. (obsolete) A box for money; a till.

Verb

1. To exchange a cheque, bond or the like for money.
2. (bridge) To lead and win a trick with the highest remaining card of a suit.
3. cash in: To convert into money or settle accounts, or (slang) to die.
4. cash in on: To profit from; to take advantage of.

Word family

• cashless
• cashable
• cashability
• cashableness
• cashbox
• cashpoint
• encash
• noncash

Related words

• case
• cashier
• capsule
• chassis

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
9. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
10. ^ Yule, Henry; Burnell, A. C. (1903), Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, new ed. by William Crooke, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster