Accountancy

How to spell accountancy

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce accountancy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does accountancy mean?

1. nounThe profession or practice of keeping and auditing financial accounts.

Accountancy in a sentence

• She left teaching to study accountancy at a local college.

• A career in accountancy suits people who enjoy precise figures.

Where does accountancy come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin computare, meaning 'to reckon up' or 'to count together', formed from com- 'together' and putare 'to settle or think'. That verb passed into Old French as aconter, 'to reckon' or 'to give account', which English adopted in the 1300s as 'account'. By the early nineteenth century the noun 'accountant' (one who keeps financial reckonings) had spawned 'accountancy', naming the profession and practice of keeping accounts. The same computare root also gave us 'compute', 'count', and 'recount', all sharing the idea of careful numerical reckoning. The doubled 'cc' and the unstressed '-ancy' ending are the usual spelling traps, since the soft 'c' sounds blur together in speech.

How the word is built

• ac- (to)
• count (reckon, from Latin computare 'to reckon up')
• -ancy (noun suffix denoting a state or profession)