Fiscal

How to spell fiscal

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce fiscal

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fiscal mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to government revenue, public money, taxation, or financial matters generally.

Fiscal in a sentence

• The government announced a new fiscal policy to reduce the deficit.

• The company closes its accounts at the end of the fiscal year in March.

Where does fiscal come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Fiscal comes from the Latin fiscalis, meaning 'relating to the public treasury', which was built on the noun fiscus. The original fiscus was an everyday object: a woven basket or rush bag used to hold money. Because such baskets were used to carry and store coins, the word came to stand for a purse, then for a person's cash, and eventually for the imperial treasury of Rome itself. English took the adjective in through French in the 1500s, at first in legal and financial contexts, and over time it narrowed to its modern sense of anything concerning public revenue, taxation, and government spending. The spelling keeps the Latin 'sc' cluster intact, which is the main trap, since the word sounds like a simple 'fis-kul' and tempts writers to drop the silent feel of that 'sc'.

How the word is built

• fisc- (from Latin fiscus: purse, public treasury)
• -al (adjective suffix: relating to)