Etymologically
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transaction

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 12:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /tɹænˈzækʃən/, /t͡ʃɹænˈzækʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French transaccion (“exchange, transaction”) and directly borrowed from Late Latin transactio (“an agreement, accomplishment”),[2][3][4] from the past participle stem of transigere (“to drive through; accomplish; come to a settlement”),[2][5] from trans (“across, through”) and agere (“to drive, do”), from PIE Proto-Indo-European *ag- (“to drive”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Roman and civil law, the adjustment of a dispute by mutual concession: about 1460 in the OED, the mid-15th century in Etymonline.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

A piece of business done or settled is from the 1640s (1647 in the OED),[2][6] and the action of transacting from 1655.[6] Transactions, the published proceedings of a learned society, is from the 1660s (1665).[2][6] MWU dates the general sense from 1632.[4] In psychology, a social interaction between people (as in transactional analysis) is a later use,[7] and in computing, a single exchange of data or a purchase is modern.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1460 – in civil law, a settlement.[6]
  • 1647 – an affair transacted.[6]
  • 1655 – the act of transacting.[6]
  • 1665 – transactions of a learned society.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A business deal, exchange or agreement.
  2. The act of transacting, or the fact of being transacted.
  3. (plural) The published records of a learned society's proceedings.
  4. An interaction between people that affects all of them.
  5. (computing) A single exchange of data or a purchase made electronically.

Word family

  • transactional
  • transactionally
  • pretransaction
  • transact

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins