debt
pronunciation
How to pronounce debt in British English:
UK [det]
How to pronounce debt in American English:
US [det]
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- Noun:
- the state of owing something (especially money)
- money or goods or services owed by one person to another
- an obligation to pay or do something
Word Origin
- debt
- debt: [13] Debt originated as dēbita, the plural of Latin dēbitum ‘that which is owed’, a noun formed from the past participle of the verb dēbēre ‘owe’. In Vulgar Latin, dēbita was evidently viewed as a feminine singular noun, and it passed thus into Old French as dette, the form in which English originally acquired the word. From the 13th to the 16th centuries the French spelling was latinized as debte, a reform which English adopted in the 16th century.In the 15th century English independently borrowed Latin dēbitum as debit. (Latin dēbēre ‘owe’, source also of English debenture, due, and duty, was originally a compound verb formed from the prefix dē- ‘away’ and habēre ‘have’, literally ‘have away’, that is, ‘keep in one’s possession what belongs to someone else’.)=> debenture, due, duty, endeavour
- debt (n.)
- late 13c., dette, from Old French dete, from Latin debitum "thing owed," neuter past participle of debere "to owe," originally, "keep something away from someone," from de- "away" (see de-) + habere "to have" (see habit (n.)). Restored spelling after c. 1400. In Middle English, debt of the body (mid-14c.) was "that which spouses owe to each other, sexual intercourse."
Synonym
Example
- 1. Public debt also rose sharply .
- 2. So how should you repay that debt ?
- 3. Soaring government debt could raise interest rates .
- 4. Who owns that greek debt ?
- 5. Debt still unpaid 30 years after graduation would be cancelled .