Cashier

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /kəˈʃɪə/

Definitions

1. A professional who manages cash transactions and customer interactions in places of business
2. An employee tasked with processing customer payments and maintaining checkout operations in retail or service establishments
3. A person responsible for receiving and handling payments at a point of sale and providing receipts to customers

Etymology: The surprising part is that "cashier" once meant someone who breaks things. The verb comes from Dutch "casseren" and "kasseren," which trace back to Old French "casser," meaning "to break (up)." When a senior military officer was dismissed in disgrace, the breakup was often marked with a ceremony in which his sword was literally snapped in two. Dismissing a person from service and breaking an object were, for a time, the same act. The noun is a separate borrowing. It comes from Dutch "cassier" or French "caissier," both from French "caisse," meaning "cash box" or "money chest." The person who guarded the box became the person who handled the money, and the job title outlived the box. The noun and the verb meaning "to dismiss" thus converged in English from different sources, and the sense of dismissal survives in the verb, as in an officer being cashiered.

Synonyms: clerk, teller, banker, checkout attendant, register