A list of employees and the amounts they are to be paid, or the total amount paid to employees. Also refers to the department handling employee compensation.
Compound of 'pay' from Old French 'paier' (to pay) and 'roll' from Old French 'rolle' (rolled document). Originally referred to actual rolled parchments containing lists of soldiers' or workers' names and wages.
Before computers and filing cabinets, important records were literally kept on long pieces of parchment that were rolled up for storage - hence 'payroll,' 'honor roll,' and 'roll call.' The physical act of unrolling a document to read names became embedded in our language even after we stopped using scrolls.
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