tax
pronunciation
How to pronounce tax in British English:
UK [tæks]
How to pronounce tax in American English:
US [tæks]
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- Noun:
- charge against a citizen's person or property or activity for the support of government
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- Verb:
- levy a tax on
- set or determine the amount of (a payment such as a fine)
- use to the limit
- make a charge against or accuse
Word Origin
- tax
- tax: [13] Tax originally denoted ‘assess an amount to be levied’; the notion of ‘imposing such a levy’ is a secondary development. The word comes via Old French taxer from Latin taxāre ‘touch, assess, appraise’, a derivative of tangere ‘touch’ (source of English contact, tangible, etc). From taxāre was derived the medieval Latin noun taxa ‘tax, piece of work imposed’, which passed into English via Anglo-Norman tasque as task [13].=> tact, tangent, tangible, task
- tax (v.)
- c. 1300, "impose a tax on," from Old French taxer "impose a tax" (13c.) and directly from Latin taxare "evaluate, estimate, assess, handle," also "censure, charge," probably a frequentative form of tangere "to touch" (see tangent (adj.)). Sense of "to burden, put a strain on" first recorded early 14c.; that of "censure, reprove" is from 1560s. Its use in Luke ii for Greek apographein "to enter on a list, enroll" is due to Tyndale. Related: Taxed; taxing.
- tax (n.)
- early 14c., "obligatory contribution levied by a sovereign or government," from Anglo-French tax, Old French taxe, and directly from Medieval Latin taxa, from Latin taxare (see tax (v.)). Related: Taxes. Tax-deduction is from 1942; tax-shelter is attested from 1961.
Example
- 1. The graduate tax has obvious drawbacks .
- 2. Tax the marketing and sale of unhealthful foods .
- 3. A tax directs cash to the government levying it .
- 4. These countries tax heavily but also spend efficiently .
- 5. Business groups say it is a tax .