finance

Meanings

Noun

• The management of money and other assets.
• The science of management of money and other assets.
• Monetary resources, especially those of a public entity or a company.
• The provision of a loan, payment instalment terms, or similar arrangement, to enable a customer to purchase an item without paying the full amount straight away.

Verb

• To conduct, or procure money for, financial operations; manage finances.
• To pay ransom.
• To manage financially; be financier for; provide or obtain funding for a transaction or undertaking.
• To extort ransom from.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• corporate finance
• cyberfinance
• e-finance
• nursery finance
• personal finance
• public finance

Origin

• From Middle English finaunce, from Anglo-Norman, Middle French finance, from finer (whence also English fine ("to pay a penalty")), from fin, from Latin fīnis.
• Original English sense c. 1400 was “ending”. Sense of “ending/satisfying a debt” came from French influence: in sense of “ransom” mid 15th century, in sense of “taxation” late 15th century. In sense of “manage money” first recorded 1770.