payout

Etymology

It is formed from English pay + out, from the phrasal verb pay out,^[2][3][4][5] which is recorded from the mid-15th century.^[3] The OED compares the later nouns payback and payoff.^[2] The verb is from Old French paier (“to pay”), from Latin pācō (“to please, pacify, satisfy”), from pāx (“peace”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An amount of money paid out: 1904, in Dialect Notes.^[2] Etymonline says that the word at first referred to oil wells that produced enough to repay the cost of drilling them.^[3] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1900–05.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1917 the word was used more generally for the act or process of paying out;^[2] Merriam-Webster dates this sense to 1943.^[4][6] The OED defines the first sense as an often large sum paid out, especially as compensation or a dividend,^[2] and Merriam-Webster includes a bookmaker's payments on a winner.^[4] Since 1977 the word has also named a place where payments are made, mostly before another noun.^[2] In South Midland American speech the phrasal verb pay out meant to pay off a debt in full, and paid out meant out of debt.^[7]

Timeline

• mid-15th century – the phrasal verb pay out.^[3]
• 1904 – an amount of money paid out, at first of oil wells that paid for their drilling.^[2][3]
• 1917 – the act or process of paying out.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates this sense to 1943.^[4]
• 1977 – a place where payments are made.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An amount of money paid out, especially as compensation, a dividend or winnings: The insurance payout covered the new roof.^[2][4]
2. The act of paying out money; expenditure or disbursement.^[4][6][2]
3. A place where payments are made.^[2]

Related words

• pay
• payoff
• payback

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press