debt

Pronunciation

• IPA: /det/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dette,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French dete, dette,^[2][3][4] from Vulgar Latin *dēbita, the plural of Latin dēbitum taken as a feminine noun,^[5][4] from Latin dēbitum (“thing owed”), the neuter past participle of dēbēre (“to owe”),^[2][3] originally “to keep something away from someone”, from dē- “away” and habēre “to have”,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *ghabh- (“to give or receive”).^[2] The b was put back in imitation of Latin, in French from the 13th to the 16th century^[4] and in English from about 1400,^[2] first recorded in the plural debtes about 1405;^[3] the b was never pronounced.^[4] It is related to debit, debtor and due.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something owed: before 1300 in the OED,^[7] about 1300 in Etymonline,^[2] and about 1280 in Barnhart.^[3] As a liability or obligation to pay, the OED has about 1290.^[7]

Semantic evolution

“The state of being under obligation to pay” is from the mid-14th century,^[2] and in debt from about 1314.^[7] In biblical language, as in “forgive us our debts”, a debt is a sin needing expiation (before 1225).^[7][8] In Middle English the debt of the body was what spouses owed each other, sexual intercourse.^[2] A debt of honour, not legally enforceable, is from 1646.^[7] The adjective “owed” was in use from the 14th to the 17th century, as in Shakespeare's Hamlet.^[9][7]

Timeline

• before 1225 – a sin.^[7]
• c. 1290 – an obligation to pay.^[7]
• c. 1300 – something owed.^[2]
• c. 1314 – in debt.^[7]
• c. 1400 – the spelling with b.^[2]
• 1646 – debt of honour.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Something owed, such as money, goods or services.
2. An obligation to pay or render something to someone.
3. The condition of owing: deep in debt.
4. An offence needing forgiveness; a trespass.

Word family

• debtless
• debt of honor
• national debt
• oxygen debt

Related words

• debit
• debitor
• debtor
• indebted
• due
• duty
• habit

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press