expense

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪkˈspɛns/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English expense, borrowed from Anglo-Norman expense, an alteration of Old French espense (“money provided for expenses”),^[2][3][4][5] from Late Latin expēnsa (“outlay”), short for expensa pecunia, money spent,^[4][3] the feminine past participle of expendere (“to weigh out, pay out”) (see expend),^[2][3] from ex- (“out”) and pendere (“to weigh, pay”).^[3] Word Origins notes that it shares a root with spend.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Money provided for expenses: before 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible.^[2][7] Etymonline also has the act of spending and loss or damage from the late 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

A monetary charge or cost is from before 1400, and spending money from 1393.^[2][7] The burden of expenditure, the cost or sacrifice involved, as at great expense, is from 1632.^[7] At someone's expense, to their loss or ridicule, follows.^[8][9] The expense account is from 1872, and the verb, to charge an expenditure against income, from 1909.^[2][3] Expensive first meant given to lavish spending (1628).^[2] Etymonline notes that Latin spensa, outlay, became German Speise, food.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1382 – money for expenses.^[2]
• 1393 – spending.^[7]
• before 1400 – a cost.^[2]
• 1632 – a burden of cost.^[7]
• 1872 – expense account.^[2][3]
• 1909 – the verb.^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The cost of something; money spent.
2. Something on which money must be spent: a car is a big expense.
3. expenses: money spent in doing a job, often paid back by an employer.
4. Loss or detriment: at the expense of his health.

Verb

1. To charge as an expense.

Word family

• expenseless
• all-expense
• expense account

Related words

• expend
• expensive
• spend
• expenditure
• pound

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins