Etymologically
Log in

income

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:31. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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

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