Deficit

How to spell deficit

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce deficit

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does deficit mean?

1. nounThe amount by which something, especially money, falls short of what is needed or expected.

Deficit in a sentence

• The government announced a record budget deficit this year.

• The company cut costs to close the deficit in its accounts.

Where does deficit come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes directly from the Latin deficit, meaning 'it is wanting' or 'it is lacking', which was the third-person singular form of the verb deficere, 'to fail, fall short, or run out'. That verb was built from de-, meaning 'down' or 'away', and facere, meaning 'to do' or 'to make', so the literal sense was something like 'to undo' or 'to leave undone'. English borrowed the word in the eighteenth century, originally as a bookkeeping term lifted straight from Latin ledgers, where a line noting deficit marked a shortage in the accounts. The same facere root sits behind a large family of English words such as 'effect', 'factory', and 'perfect', which is a useful reminder that the spelling carries a single c, not the doubled or 'sh'-style spelling the soft middle sound might tempt you toward. Over time the financial meaning widened to cover any shortfall, from a budget gap to a team trailing on the scoreboard.

How the word is built

• de- (down, away)
• fic (from Latin facere: to do, make)
• -it (Latin third-person ending: it is lacking)