Word of the Day

: July 21, 2021

receipt

noun rih-SEET

What It Means

1 a : a writing acknowledging the receiving of goods or money

b receipts, plural, informal : proof, evidence

2 : the act or process of receiving

3 : something received — usually used in plural

4 : recipe

receipt in Context

If you find that the item has been damaged during shipping, please contact us upon receipt to request a return shipping label.

"A perplexed correspondent asked Emily Post why it was that she used the word 'receipt' instead of 'recipe' in discussing cookery. Mrs. Post replied that 'receipt' is a word of fashionable descent, used in this sense, so she preferred it to the more commercial 'recipe.'" — J. N. Cornelius, The Birmingham (Alabama) News, 30 July 1937

Did You Know?

These days it may seem odd to speak of "grandma's cookie receipt," but in the past, receipt was a synonym of recipe. Early use of receipt refers to medicinal preparations. Recipe didn't arrive until the 1500s, and it too was first used to describe a formula for medicine. In time, both words gained use in cookery, after which recipe slowly became the preferred word. Receipt later acquired its more familiar sense of "a writing acknowledging the receiving of goods or money." Both words, receipt and recipe, ultimately derive from Latin recipere ("to receive").