income

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɪn.kʌm/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English income (“entrance, arrival”),^[2][3] in early use probably from Old Norse innkoma (“arrival”),^[4][5][6] and later a new formation from the phrase come in, from English in + come.^[4][7] Barnhart and Etymonline connect it with the Old English verb incuman “to come in, enter”, from in and cuman.^[8][7] German Einkommen and Swedish inkomst are similar formations.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

“A coming in, entrance, arrival”: before 1300,^[9] before 1325 in Cursor Mundi,^[8] or about 1300.^[7]

Semantic evolution

A fee paid on entering is from 1549, and a newcomer or immigrant from 1555, both obsolete.^[9] The meaning “money that comes in from work, business or property” is first recorded in 1601,^[8][9] about 1600.^[7] Income tax was introduced in Britain in 1799, during the Napoleonic Wars, and reintroduced in 1842;^[8][7] in the United States it was levied by the federal government in 1861–72 and authorized nationally in 1913.^[7] National income is from 1878.^[9] In Scots and northern dialect an income was also a swelling or sore, from 1808.^[9][6]

Timeline

• before 1300 – an arrival, entrance.^[9]
• 1549 – an entrance fee (obsolete).^[9]
• 1601 – money received.^[8][9]
• 1799 – income tax in Britain.^[8]
• 1878 – national income.^[9]
• 1913 – US federal income tax authorized.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Money received, especially regularly, from work, investments or business.
2. (archaic) A coming in; an entrance.

Word family

• incomeless
• low-income
• high-income
• income statement
• income tax
• unearned income
• discretionary income
• disposable income

Related words

• come
• in
• incoming
• incomer
• outcome
• revenue

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press