Ledger

How to spell ledger

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce ledger

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ledger mean?

1. nounA book or digital record in which financial accounts, debits, and credits are systematically entered.

Ledger in a sentence

• The accountant reconciled every entry in the ledger before the audit.

• Each payment and receipt is logged in the company ledger.

Where does ledger come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Ledger traces back to the Middle English verb leggen, meaning 'to lay' or 'to lie', the same Germanic root behind the modern words 'lay' and 'lie'. In the 1400s a 'ledger' was a large book that lay permanently open in one fixed place, such as a church choir or a counting house, rather than being carried about. The accounting sense, a principal book in which a trader's debits and credits are recorded, was firmly established by the 1500s. The spelling wandered through forms such as 'legger' and 'lidger' before settling on the soft 'g' version we use today, which is exactly the trap: the word is pronounced with a 'j' sound but written with 'dg'. Keeping the silent 'd' in mind, as in 'edge' or 'badge', is the surest way to spell it correctly.

How the word is built

• ledg- (from Middle English leggen: to lay, a book that lies permanently in one place)
• -er (noun suffix)