voucher

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman voucher (“to vouch”), the Anglo-Norman infinitive used as a noun,^[2][3][4][5] which already served as a noun in Anglo-Norman.^[6] The verb, the source of vouch, was used from the early 12th century for calling someone as a witness or guarantor;^[6][2] it is from Old French vocher, probably from Vulgar Latin *voticō,^[7][8] an alteration of Latin vocitō (“to call insistently”), the frequentative of vocō (“to call”),^[7][8] from Proto-Indo-European *wekw- (“to speak”).^[7][8] The OED calls the link with the Latin verb obscure.^[2] The noun is now taken as the verb with the suffix -er,^[4] and the senses "one who vouches" were formed in English in that way.^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In law, the summoning of a person into court to warrant the title to a property: about 1530, in the Questyon Tayled Lande printed with the Dyaloge in Englysshe.^[2][3] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1523,^[5] Etymonline to the 1520s.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the legal summons the word passed to anything that serves as proof or guarantee, first in Shakespeare's Cymbeline (before 1616).^[2] From 1612 a voucher was also a person who vouches for a fact or for someone's good faith,^[2][5] and Johnson (1755) gave only this sense, "one who gives witness to any thing".^[9] In 17th-century underworld cant it was the accomplice who passed counterfeit coins.^[10][2] A written document proving a payment or the delivery of goods is recorded from 1696,^[2] and Etymonline dates the sense "receipt" to the 1690s.^[7] The modern sense, a document that can be exchanged for goods or services, appears in 1947.^[2][7]

Timeline

• c. 1530 – in law, the summoning of a person to warrant a title.^[2]
• before 1616 – a piece of evidence, a guarantee.^[2]
• 1612 – a person who vouches for a fact.^[2][5]
• 1663 – in cant, a passer of counterfeit money.^[10]
• 1696 – a document attesting a payment or transaction.^[2]
• 1947 – a document exchangeable for goods or services.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ticket or document that can be exchanged for goods or services, or used in place of cash: a gift voucher for the bookshop.^[11][2]
2. A document that serves as evidence of a transaction, such as a receipt for money paid.^[11][5][2]
3. A person or thing that vouches for the truth of something.^[11][5][2]
4. (law, historical) The summoning of a person into court to warrant the title to a property.^[5][3][2]

Verb

1. To certify something with a voucher, or to prepare a voucher for it.^[5]

Word family

• voucherable
• gift voucher

Related words

• vouch
• vouchee
• avouch
• vocation
• voice
• advocate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins