payroll English · revision 39757

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1740, C. Cibber, Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈpeɪˌɹəʊl/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈpeɪˌɹoʊl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It was formed [[af|en|pay|roll]] in English.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Dictionary.com 2016)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A list of the people to be paid by an employer, with the sums due to each: 1740, in Colley Cibber's ''Apology'' for his life.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) Dictionary.com dates the word to 1765–75.^(Dictionary.com 2016)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The phrase ''on the payroll'', in the pay of an employer, is recorded from 1862, and later also for someone under the control of another, as by bribery.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) The sense "the total sum paid out in wages for a period", and the cash brought to a factory to pay them, is recorded from 1861 in the OED and by 1898 in Etymonline.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1740 – a list of employees and their pay.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1861 – the total wages of a period; cash for paying them.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1862 – ''on the payroll''.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A list of the people employed by a company or organization, with the [[wage|alt=wages]] or [[salary|alt=salaries]] due to each: ''The firm has two hundred people on its payroll.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # The total amount paid to employees over a period: ''a monthly payroll of half a million''.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # The work of managing employees' pay in a company, or the department that does it: ''the payroll department''.^(LDOCE 2009)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[payroller]]

+ * [[payroll tax]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pay]]

+ * [[roll]]

+ * [[salary]]

+ * [[wage]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}