budget

pronunciation

How to pronounce budget in British English: UK [ˈbʌdʒɪt] word uk audio image

How to pronounce budget in American English: US [ˈbʌdʒɪt] word us audio image

Noun:

a sum of money allocated for a particular purpose
a summary of intended expenditures along with proposals for how to meet them
Verb:

make a budget

Word Origin

budget: budget: [15] Originally, a budget was a ‘pouch’. English got the word from Old French bougette, which was a diminutive form of bouge ‘leather bag’ (from which we get bulge). This came from Latin bulga, which may have been of Gaulish origin (medieval Irish bolg ‘bag’ has been compared). The word’s financial connotations arose in the 18th century, the original notion being that the government minister concerned with treasury affairs opened his budget, or wallet, to reveal what fiscal measures he had in mind.The first reference to the expression occurs in a pamphlet called The budget opened 1733 directed against Sir Robert Walpole: ‘And how is this to be done? Why by an Alteration only of the present Method of collecting the publick Revenues … So then, out it comes at last. The Budget is opened; and our State Empirick hath dispensed his packets by his Zany Couriers through all parts of the Kingdom … I do not pretend to understand this Art of political Legerdemain’.The earliest recorded use of the word non-satirically in this sense seems to be from 1764.=> bulge

budget (v.): "to include in a (fiscal) budget," 1884, from budget (n.). Related: Budgeted; budgeting.

budget (n.): early 15c., "leather pouch," from Middle French bougette, diminutive of Old French bouge "leather bag, wallet, pouch," from Latin bulga "leather bag," of Gaulish origin (compare Old Irish bolg "bag," Breton bolc'h "flax pod"), from PIE *bhelgh- (see belly (n.)). Modern financial meaning (1733) is from notion of treasury minister keeping his fiscal plans in a wallet. Another 18c. transferred sense was "bundle of news," hence the use of the word as the title of some newspapers.

vt.