Etymologically
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receipt

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 15:35. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /rɪˈsiːt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English receite, borrowed from Anglo-Norman receite,[2][3][4][5][6] an alteration, after a form meaning “he receives”, of Old French recete,[2][3] from Medieval Latin recepta (“thing received”), from the feminine past participle of Latin recipiō (“to receive, hold”) (see receive).[2][3][5][6] The p, put back in imitation of Latin from the late 14th century, became established only in the 18th and was never pronounced.[2][3][6] The same was tried with conceit and deceit.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of receiving: before 1349, as resseite.[2]

Semantic evolution

A sum of money received is from 1390,[2] and a formula for a medicine, a recipe, from about 1386 in the OED, 1392 in Barnhart.[7][2] A written acknowledgement of receiving money is from the 17th century.[4] Trench notes that receipt once also meant a place for receiving, a receptacle, as in North's Plutarch and Bacon's Essays.[8] The verb, to mark a bill as paid, is from 1787.[5]

Timeline

  • before 1349 – the act of receiving.[2]
  • c. 1386 – a recipe.[7]
  • 1390 – money received.[2]
  • 17th century – a written receipt.[4]
  • 1787 – to receipt (verb).[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A written acknowledgement that money or goods have been received.
  2. The act of receiving, or the fact of being received.
  3. Usually in the plural, money or goods received.
  4. (slang, plural) Evidence; proof.
  5. (archaic) A recipe.

Verb

  1. To mark a bill as paid, or to give a receipt for money or goods.

Word family

  • nonreceipt
  • receiptor
  • unreceipted

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker