Etymologically
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debit

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈdɛb.ɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English debite, also dubete,[2][3] borrowed from Latin dēbitum (“something owed, a debt”),[4][5][6][7] perhaps through Old French debet;[8][3] the MED derives it from debite.[2] The OED sees the early form as a further Latinization of debt, earlier dette.[4] The Latin noun is the neuter past participle of dēbeō (“to owe”),[8][6][3] from dē- (“away”) and habeō (“to have”),[8] from Proto-Indo-European *ghabh- (“to give or receive”).[8] The bookkeeping sense follows French débit, recorded in 1723.[4][9][7][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something that is owed, a debt: about 1450, in the Paston Letters,[4][2][3] where the MED also finds the sense "a sin".[2]

Semantic evolution

The general sense "a debt" died out in the early 17th century (last recorded 1614),[4][9] and the word was revived in bookkeeping: an entry in an account of a sum owed appears in 1776, in the record of the forgery trial of Maharaja Nundocomar,[4][3][8] though Merriam-Webster gives 1746 as its first known use.[11] The whole of such entries, and the left-hand side of an account on which they stand, is recorded from 1872.[4] The verb, to charge a person with a debt, dates from 1682,[4][3][11] and to enter a sum on the debit side from 1865.[4][8] A rare verb borrowed from French débiter, to put news into circulation, appears in 1879.[4][9] Debit card is attested from 1975,[8] and Merriam-Webster also records a figurative sense, a disadvantage.[11]

Timeline

  • c. 1450 – dubete, a debt.[4][2][3]
  • before 1475 – the spelling debyte.[3]
  • 1614 – last record of the general sense.[4]
  • 1682 – verb, to charge with a debt.[4][3][11]
  • 1746 – first known use of the bookkeeping sense in Merriam-Webster.[11]
  • 1776 – an entry of a sum owing in an account.[4][3]
  • 1865 – to enter on the debit side of an account.[4][8]
  • 1872 – the debit side of an account.[4]
  • 1975 – debit card.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An entry in an account recording a sum owed or paid out, or the total of such entries; the left-hand side of an account where they are entered, opposed to credit.[12][11][4]
  2. A payment taken from a bank account.[11][12]
  3. Something that counts against a person or thing; a drawback: The long commute was the main debit of the new job.[11]
  4. (obsolete, 1450–1614) A debt.[4][9][2]

Verb

  1. To record an item as a debit in an account: The bank debited the fee to my account.[12][11][4]
  2. To charge a person or an account with a sum: Your account will be debited monthly.[12][4]

Word family

  • redebit
  • debit card

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins