*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of debit

Borrowed from Middle French debet, from Latin debitum (“what is owed, a debt”), neuter of debitus, past participle of debere (“to owe”); Doublet of debt.

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

In bookkeeping, an entry in the left hand column of an account. · A sum of money taken out of a bank account. Thus called, because in bank's bookkeeping a cash withdrawal diminishes the amount of money held on the account, i.e. bank's debt to the customer.

adj

of or relating to process of taking money from an account · of or relating to the debit card function of a debit card rather than its often available credit card function

verb

To make an entry on the debit side of an account. · To record a receivable in the bookkeeping.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Borrowed from Middle French debet, from Latin debitum (“what is owed, a debt”), neuter of debitus, past participle of debere (“to owe”); Doublet of debt.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "root",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*gʰeh₁bʰ-"
      },
      "expansion": ""
    },
    {
      "name": "bor+",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "frm",
        "3": "debet"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Middle French debet"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
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        "2": "la",
        "3": "debitum",
        "4": "",
        "5": "what is owed, a debt"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin debitum (“what is owed, a debt”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "debt"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of debt"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "debet",
      "debet#Middle_French"
    ],
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    ],
    [
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      "debitus#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "debere",
      "debere#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "debt",
      "debt#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "In bookkeeping, an entry in the left hand column of an account.",
        "A sum of money taken out of a bank account. Thus called, because in bank's bookkeeping a cash withdrawal diminishes the amount of money held on the account, i.e. bank's debt to the customer."
      ],
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    },
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      "pos": "adj",
      "glosses": [
        "of or relating to process of taking money from an account",
        "of or relating to the debit card function of a debit card rather than its often available credit card function"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
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      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 445247
    },
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To make an entry on the debit side of an account.",
        "To record a receivable in the bookkeeping."
      ],
      "tags": [],
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  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
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    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
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  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for debit →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
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Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-ZGViaXQ