Bankruptcy

How to spell bankruptcy

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce bankruptcy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bankruptcy mean?

1. nounThe legal state of being unable to repay outstanding debts, formally declared through the courts.

Bankruptcy in a sentence

• The airline filed for bankruptcy after months of mounting losses.

• Declaring bankruptcy allowed the company to restructure its debts under court supervision.

Where does bankruptcy come from?

Language of origin: Italian

The word traces back to the Italian phrase banca rotta, literally a 'broken bench', describing the table or counter at which a medieval money-changer did business. When such a dealer failed and could no longer pay his creditors, his bench was symbolically (and sometimes literally) broken to signal that he was out of business. The second element comes from the Latin rumpere, meaning 'to break' or 'to burst', the same root that gives us 'rupture' and 'interrupt'. English took in 'bankrupt' in the sixteenth century, reshaping the ending under the influence of Latin rupta, and then formed 'bankruptcy' by adding the noun suffix -cy to name the condition itself. That hidden 'pt' followed by 'cy' is the spelling trap, because the cluster is almost silent in speech, which tempts writers to drop the 't' and produce the common error 'bankrupcy'.

How the word is built

• bank- (from Italian banca: money-dealer's bench/table)
• rupt (from Latin rumpere: to break)
• -cy (noun suffix: state or condition)