Insolvency

How to spell insolvency

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce insolvency

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does insolvency mean?

1. nounThe state of being unable to pay one's debts as they fall due.

Insolvency in a sentence

• The firm slid into insolvency after losing its largest client.

• The accountant warned the board that insolvency was only weeks away.

Where does insolvency come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb solvere, which literally meant 'to loosen' or 'to untie', and which came to mean 'to release from a debt' and so 'to pay'. From solvere came the adjective solvens, describing one able to pay, and English built 'solvent' on it to mean financially able to meet one's debts. Adding the negating prefix in-, meaning 'not', produced 'insolvent', someone unable to pay what they owe, with the abstract noun 'insolvency' following to name that condition. The word entered English around the seventeenth century as commerce and credit grew more formal. The same solvere root still loosens its way through 'dissolve', 'solution', and 'resolve', and remembering that buried solv is the key to spelling the v that learners sometimes drop.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• solv (from Latin solvere: to loosen, release, pay)
• -ency (state or condition)