Paycheck

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpeɪ.t͡ʃɛk/

Definitions

1. A regular payment received by an employee, typically issued weekly or monthly, representing earnings for work done
2. The sum of money paid to a worker as compensation for their labor on a recurring schedule
3. A compensation amount given periodically to a person for their employment services

Etymology: The most surprising part of "paycheck" is that its second half travels a long way from banking. "Check" descends from Old French "eschec", which came from Medieval Latin "scaccus" and ultimately from the Persian "shah", as in the king on a chessboard. Chess gave English the idea of being checked, and that sense of stopping or holding back later became the notion of verifying something, and eventually a written order to a bank that a holder could cash. The compound itself is plain. "Pay" comes from Old French "paier", from Latin "pacare", meaning to pacify or settle, and it reached English in Middle English as "payen". Joined to "check", it names a payment made to an employee, typically written out and redeemed through a bank. The word is a straightforward combination of two existing English terms rather than a coinage with a single inventor.

Synonyms: salary, wage, payment, remuneration, earnings

Antonyms: debt, expense, loss