Cashiering

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Handling transactions and payments at a checkout counter or register
2. Managing sales, receiving money, and providing change in a retail or service setting
3. Conducting financial exchanges and processing payments in a customer-facing role

Etymology: The "cashier" who handles your groceries takes his name from a military punishment. Before the till, a cashier was a dismissal: the verb "cashier" meant to discard or dismiss someone from service, often with disgrace. Its earlier root is the Dutch "casseren" or "kasseren," from Old French "casser," meaning "to break up." At ceremonies stripping a ranking officer of rank, the breakup was often acted out by literally snapping the officer's sword. The retail sense comes from a separate source. English also borrowed "cashier," meaning a person in charge of money, from Dutch "cassier" or French "caissier," both derived from French "caisse," meaning "money box" or "chest." So the modern cashier, counting coins at the counter, descends from the box, while the verb "cashier," meaning to dismiss, descends from the sword-breaking ceremony. The two words share a spelling by coincidence of separate borrowings.