Trets

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A deduction or allowance made, especially in accounting or commercial calculations, involving adjustments for waste or loss; a term used historically to refer to a small allowance for damaged or imperfect goods; it can also imply a slight deduction from a quantity due to quality issues
2. An act of subtracting a specified amount from a total, commonly used in trade to account for minor defects or impurities; a historical measurement term signifying a small percentage reduction on commodities; occasionally denotes a discount caused by imperfections in products
3. A calculated reduction applied to an overall sum to compensate for damages or deficiencies; a term historically associated with adjustments in weights and measures due to spoilage or error; sometimes reflects a concession granted for less than perfect items during transactions

Etymology: "Trets" is the plural of "tret," a noun for an allowance deducted from a gross weight, most often to cover waste or spoilage. The word came into English from Old French "trait," meaning a drawing or pulling, which in turn came from Latin "trahere," to draw. The link to pulling is the key to the sense: a tret was originally the deduction taken for the waste or loss in a load, as if the goods had been drawn off. The core sense of "tret" is only part of the picture. The same Latin root gives English "trait," "tract," and "portray," all built on the idea of drawing something out or forward. A merchant's tret was a small, practical subtraction, yet its ancestry is the same drawing motion that produced words describing a person's character or a line of land.

Synonyms: deductions, allowances, discounts