Invoice

How to spell invoice

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce invoice

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does invoice mean?

1. nounAn itemised document listing goods or services supplied, with the amounts due for payment.
2. verbTo send someone a document requesting payment for goods or services.

Invoice in a sentence

• noun

  The supplier attached the invoice to the delivery email.

• verb

  The contractor agreed to invoice the client at the end of each month.

• noun

  Accounts will not release payment without a valid invoice.

• verb

  We usually invoice customers within seven days of delivery.

Where does invoice come from?

Language of origin: French

This word comes from the French envois, the plural of envoi, meaning 'a thing sent' or 'a dispatch', which traces back to the verb envoyer, 'to send'. That French verb grew from the Latin phrase in viam, literally 'on the way' or 'on the road', so the original idea was of goods being put on the road and sent to a buyer. English adopted the plural form envois in the sixteenth century, and over time the spelling was reshaped into the singular 'invoice', with the awkward consequence that a single document now ends in what was once a plural. The shift from the French 'en-' to the English 'in-' is the quiet trap, since the word starts with 'in' but hides the 'oi' of its French parent. Because the modern spelling no longer matches the French original, the unusual 'voi' cluster has to be learned by sight.

How the word is built

• From French envois (plural of envoi, 'a sending'); now treated as a single root invoice with no separable prefix or suffix in English.