Word of the Day

: May 30, 2019

disbursement

noun diss-BERSS-munt

What It Means

: the act of paying out money especially from a fund : the act of disbursing; also : funds paid out

disbursement in Context

Stephanie receives a monthly disbursement from her parents' trust fund.

"The bank expanded the reach of its digital disbursements product by teaming up with PayPal." — The Banker, 1 Oct. 2018

Did You Know?

Disbursement was minted in English in the late 16th century by melding the noun suffix -ment with the verb disburse. Disburse is a borrowing of the Middle French desbourser, which traces back to the Old French desborser, a combination of the negating prefix des- (equivalent to the English dis-) and borse, which, like its English cognate purse, ultimately traces back to the Medieval Latin bursa, meaning "money bag" and, in earlier Latin usage, "oxhide." During the 16th and 17th centuries, deburse, depurse, and dispurse were deposited in the English language bank as synonyms of disburse. Deburse and depurse were also used respectively to form debursement and depursement—but these synonyms of disburse and disbursement all quickly declined in value and were never redeemed.