Bookkeeping

/ˈbʊk.ˌkip.ɪŋ/ noun

Definition

The job of recording all the money that comes into and goes out of a business to track finances.

Etymology

Compound of 'book' (record) and 'keeping' (maintaining), referring to literal books where transactions were written; term used since the 1500s.

Kelly Says

Bookkeeping became automated by computers, but accountants still joke that double-entry bookkeeping—recording every transaction twice—was so revolutionary in the 1400s that it enabled the Renaissance economy.

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