Etymologically
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checkout

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈt͡ʃɛkˌaʊt/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English check + out, chiefly after the phrasal verb check out.[2][3][4][5] Dictionary.com calls it an Americanism.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, relating to the recording of a departure, for example from a place of work: 1901, in the Chicago journal Railway Age.[2] The noun is first recorded in 1921, for an act of checking someone or something out.[2] The dictionaries date it later: Dictionary.com to 1920–25,[4] Merriam-Webster to 1933[5] and Etymonline to 1944.[3]

Semantic evolution

In 1908 checkout was the deduction of union dues from wages, a sense now obsolete.[2] The noun then followed the senses of the verb: borrowing, especially of a library book (1922), and leaving a hotel at the end of a stay (1925).[2] Etymonline dates the hotel sense only to 1958.[3] The supermarket counter where goods are paid for is recorded from 1940 in the OED and 1947 in Etymonline,[2][3] and in 1995 the word passed to paying for purchases online.[2] The training of a pilot on a particular aircraft is recorded from 1944, and Etymonline gives this as the original sense.[2][3] In darts a checkout is the combination of throws that wins a leg (1976).[2] American slang also uses it for a quick searching look.[6]

Timeline

  • 1901 – adjective, relating to recording a departure.[2]
  • 1908 – deduction of union dues from wages (obsolete).[2]
  • 1921 – an examination of someone or something.[2]
  • 1922 – the recording of an item borrowed, as from a library.[2]
  • 1925 – departure from a hotel at the end of a stay.[2]
  • 1940 – the place in a shop where goods are paid for.[2]
  • 1944 – training given to a pilot on a particular aircraft.[2][3]
  • 1976 – in darts, the throws that win a leg.[2]
  • 1995 – the process of paying for purchases online.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of leaving a hotel room and paying the bill, or the time by which a guest must leave: Checkout is at eleven.[5][7][2]
  2. A counter in a supermarket or other shop where customers pay for their goods.[5][7][2]
  3. The process of paying for purchases on a website, or the pages that handle it.[2]
  4. The recording of an item borrowed, especially a book from a library.[7][2]
  5. A test or inspection of a machine or system to see that it works properly; any examination of someone or something.[7][5][2]
  6. Training given to a pilot in handling a particular aircraft.[2][3]
  7. In darts, the combination of throws needed to win a leg.[2]

Adjective

  1. Relating to leaving a place or to paying for goods: the checkout queue.[2]

Usage notes

Grammarphobia notes that dictionaries write the phrasal verb check out as two words and the noun and adjective checkout as one, with hyphenated forms only as variants.[8]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "Check out, check-out, checkout?", 1 May 2019