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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word cec

cec1 cheque

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1896 Theodor Ștefănescu's book on double-entry bookkeeping
Borrowed from
English check
Ultimate origin
English check
Etymology tree of cec1
inherited borrowed derived
English checker
English check
Romanian cec
From the same root · cec1
English checkout ← check
English checkpoint ← check

Pronunciation

Forms

cec n (plural cecuri)[1]

Etymology

The word for the cheque is borrowed from English check, with French chèque (itself from English) as a second model.[2][3][4] DER gives English alone, while Tiktin, Scriban and Șăineanu take it from the French form.[5][6][7][8][1] The English noun first meant “control, verification”.[2] It comes from the English verb meaning “to verify”, earlier “to stop, hold back” and “to give check (in chess)”, and goes back through Old French eschec to the vocabulary of chess.[2] French borrowed the English word in 1788 and had its present spelling by the 1860s.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Theodor Ștefănescu's book on double-entry bookkeeping (1896), where the cheque is a payment order by which a person withdraws money held to the credit of their account.[2][4][10][6] DELR records an old spelling cek.[2]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to the banking one: a written order by which an account holder has a bank pay a sum from that account, to a named person or to the bearer.[3][11] NODEX adds a sense “receipt for a purchase”, the slip that shows what a buyer paid.[12]

Timeline

  • 1896 – cec “cheque” in Ștefănescu's bookkeeping manual, the first record.[2][4][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cheque: a document, made out to a named person or to the bearer, by which the holder of a current account, or someone authorised by them, orders the payment of a sum from that account.[3][4][5]
  2. (regional, Moldova) A receipt showing the sum paid by a buyer or received from them.[12]

cec2 caecum

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1859
Borrowed from
French caecum
Ultimate origin
Latin caecus

Pronunciation

Forms

cec n (plural cecuri)[1]

Etymology

The word for the caecum is borrowed from French caecum and the anatomical borrowed from New Latin caecum (“blind (intestine)”).[2][3][13][1] The Latin adjective is caecus (“blind”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the word to 1859, in the variant cecum.[2] MDA2 cites it only from the 1978 edition of Marcu and Maneca's dictionary of neologisms.[4]

Semantic evolution

The word is a term of anatomy with a single sense: the first part of the large intestine.[3][13] Its adjective cecal “of the caecum” is recorded from 1924.[2]

Timeline

  • 1859 – the variant cecum.[2]
  • 1924 – the adjective cecal.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (anatomy) The caecum: the first part of the large intestine, shaped like a pouch, between the small intestine and the colon.[3][4][13]

Word family

  • cecal

Usage notes

The variant cecum is still listed for the anatomical word.[3][13] MDA2 also lists cec- as a variant of the combining form ceco-.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. cec
  3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 167
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 352
  5. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. cec
  6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cec
  7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 255
  8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 117
  9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. cec
  11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
  12. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional
  13. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual

Related etymologies

  • spin · also from English
  • script · also from English
  • dolar · also from English
  • gol · also from English
  • club · also from English
  • cod · also from English
  • meci · also from English
  • bob · also from English
Cite this entry

“Cec.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/cec. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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