bank

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See also: Bank, Bánk, bänk, and Bänk

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English banke, from Middle French banque, from Italian banca (counter, moneychanger's bench or table), from Lombardic bank (bench, counter), from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz (bench, counter), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (to turn, curve, bend, bow). Doublet of bench, banc, and banco.

Noun

bank (countable and uncountable, plural banks)

  1. (countable) An institution where one can place and borrow money and take care of financial affairs.
    • 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:
      Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. [] Banks and credit-card firms are kept out of the picture. Talk to enough people in the field and someone is bound to mention the “democratisation of finance”.
  2. (countable) A branch office of such an institution.
  3. (countable) An underwriter or controller of a card game.
    Synonyms: banker, banque
  4. (countable) A fund from deposits or contributions, to be used in transacting business; a joint stock or capital.
    • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Usury”, in The Essayes , 3rd edition, London: Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
      Let it be no bank or common stock, but every man be master of his own money.
  5. (gambling, countable) The sum of money etc. which the dealer or banker has as a fund from which to draw stakes and pay losses.
  6. (slang, uncountable) Money; profit.
    • 2010, Paul Bouchard, Enlistment, page 113:
      Military dude was working for a drug dealer, right? and making good bank with it—he was making good money.
  7. (countable) In certain games, such as dominos, a fund of pieces from which the players are allowed to draw.
  8. (countable, chiefly in combination) A safe and guaranteed place of storage for and retrieval of important items or goods.
  9. (countable) A device used to store coins or currency.
    If you want to buy a bicycle, you need to put the money in your piggy bank.
Synonyms
  • (a place used to store and borrow money): Lombard house (archaic)
Derived terms
Terms derived from bank (noun: financial institution; repository; etc)
Related terms
Descendants
All Borrowings

Some may be via other European languages.

Translations

Verb

bank (third-person singular simple present banks, present participle banking, simple past and past participle banked)

  1. (intransitive) To deal with a bank or financial institution, or for an institution to provide financial services to a client.
    He banked with Barclays.
    • 1979, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
      the sort of face you would happily bank with
  2. (transitive) To put into a bank.
    I'm going to bank the money.
  3. (transitive, slang) To conceal in the rectum for use in prison.
    Johnny banked some coke for me.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English bank, from Old English hōbanca (couch) and Old English banc (bank, hillock, embankment), from Proto-Germanic *bankô. Akin to Old Norse bakki (elevation, hill), Norwegian bakke (slope, hill).

Noun

bank (plural banks)

  1. (hydrology) An edge of river, lake, or other watercourse.
    • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
      Tiber trembled underneath her banks.
    • 1943 June 8, “Jap Remnants Suffer Heavy Casualties: Alerts In Chungking”, in The Bombay Chronicle, volume XXXI, number 134, page 1:
      On the opposite bank of the river other Chinese units attacked Taoshih and Yunmeng north-west of Hankow.
    • 2014 September 16, Ian Jack, “Is this the end of Britishness”, in The Guardian:
      Just upstream of Dryburgh Abbey, a reproduction of a classical Greek temple stands at the top of a wooded hillock on the river’s north bank.
  2. (nautical, hydrology) An elevation, or rising ground, under the sea; a shallow area of shifting sand, gravel, mud, and so forth (for example, a sandbank or mudbank).
    Synonym: bar
    the banks of Newfoundland
  3. (geography) A slope of earth, sand, etc.; an embankment.
  4. (aviation) The incline of an aircraft, especially during a turn.
  5. (rail transport) An incline, a hill.
    • 1940 December, O. S. M. Raw, “The Rhodesia Railways—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 640:
      This is the hardest duty on the railway, for the trains are heavy and there are some long 1 in 40 banks.
  6. A mass noun for a quantity of clouds.
    The bank of clouds on the horizon announced the arrival of the predicted storm front.
  7. (mining) The face of the coal at which miners are working.
  8. (mining) A deposit of ore or coal, worked by excavations above water level.
  9. (mining) The ground at the top of a shaft.
    Ores are brought to bank.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

Verb

bank (third-person singular simple present banks, present participle banking, simple past and past participle banked)

  1. (intransitive, aviation) To roll or incline laterally in order to turn.
  2. (transitive) To cause (an aircraft) to bank.
  3. (transitive) To form into a bank or heap, to bank up.
    to bank sand
  4. (transitive) To cover the embers of a fire with ashes in order to retain heat.
  5. (transitive) To raise a mound or dike about; to enclose, defend, or fortify with a bank; to embank.
  6. (transitive, obsolete) To pass by the banks of.
  7. (rail transport, UK) To provide additional power for a train ascending a bank (incline) by attaching another locomotive.
    • 1942 March, “Notes and News: Locomotive Notes”, in Railway Magazine, page 93:
      Some interesting facts have recently been made known by the L.N.E.R. concerning the 178-ton Garratt 2-8-0 + 0-8-2 engine No. 2395, which since construction in 1925 has spent the whole of its working life banking coal trains up the 3 miles of 1 in 40 between Wentworth junction and West Silkstone, on the Worsborough branch, near Barnsley.
    • 1960 July, “Motive Power Miscellany: Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 443:
      [...] the 4-4-0 unhappily stalled after a stop on Reading Old Bank with its eight-coach load and the Reading Up Line pilot, a "Hall", had to bank the train into Reading General.
    • 1960 September, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern motive power of the German Federal Railway: Part One”, in Trains Ilustrated, page 558:
      Soon after leaving Bebra the line rises, mostly at 1 in 74, for 7 miles to Cornberg and all trains of over 400 tons are banked.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English bank (bank), banke, from Old French banc (bench), from Frankish *bank. Akin to Old English benc (bench).

Noun

bank (plural banks)

  1. A row or panel of items stored or grouped together.
    a bank of switches
    a bank of pay phones
    • 2011 December 10, Marc Higginson, “Bolton 1 - 2 Aston Villa”, in BBC Sport:
      Wanderers were finally woken from their slumber when Kevin Davies brought a fine save out of Brad Guzan while, minutes after the restart, Klasnic was blocked out by a bank of Villa defenders.
  2. A row of keys on a musical keyboard or the equivalent on a typewriter keyboard.
  3. (computing) A contiguous block of memory that is of fixed, hardware-dependent size, but often larger than a page and partitioning the memory such that two distinct banks do not overlap.
  4. (pinball) A set of multiple adjacent drop targets.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

bank (third-person singular simple present banks, present participle banking, simple past and past participle banked)

  1. (transitive, order and arrangement) To arrange or order in a row.

Etymology 4

Probably from French banc. Of Germanic origin, and akin to English bench.

Noun

bank (plural banks)

  1. A bench, as for rowers in a galley; also, a tier of oars.
    • 1658, Edmund Waller, he Passion of Dido for Æneas:
      Placed on their banks, the lusty Trojans sweep / Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep.
  2. A bench or seat for judges in court.
  3. The regular term of a court of law, or the full court sitting to hear arguments upon questions of law, as distinguished from a sitting at nisi prius, or a court held for jury trials. See banc
  4. (archaic, printing) A kind of table used by printers.
  5. (music) A bench, or row of keys belonging to a keyboard, as in an organ.
Derived terms
Related terms

References

  1. ^ Alexander M Burrill (1850–1851), “BANK”, in A New Law Dictionary and Glossary: , volume (please specify |part= or |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: John S. Voorhies, , →OCLC.
  2. ^ Edward H Knight (1877), “Bank”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. , volume I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton , →OCLC.

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Dutch bank, from Middle Dutch banc, from Old Dutch *bank, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz.

Noun

bank (plural banke, diminutive bankie)

  1. bench, couch
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Dutch bank, from Middle Dutch banc, from Italian banco, from Old High German bank, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz.

Noun

bank (plural banke, diminutive bankie)

  1. bank (financial institution)
  2. (games, gambling) bank, a player who controls a deposit in some card games or board games and in gambling

Verb

bank (present bank, present participle bankende, past participle gebank)

  1. (transitive) to deposit, to bank
  2. (intransitive) to bank

Azerbaijani

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian банк (bank). Internationalism ultimately from French banque.

Pronunciation

Noun

bank (definite accusative bankı, plural banklar)

  1. bank (financial institution)

Declension

    Declension of bank
singular plural
nominative bank
banklar
definite accusative bankı
bankları
dative banka
banklara
locative bankda
banklarda
ablative bankdan
banklardan
definite genitive bankın
bankların
    Possessive forms of bank
nominative
singular plural
mənim (my) bankım banklarım
sənin (your) bankın bankların
onun (his/her/its) bankı bankları
bizim (our) bankımız banklarımız
sizin (your) bankınız banklarınız
onların (their) bankı or bankları bankları
accusative
singular plural
mənim (my) bankımı banklarımı
sənin (your) bankını banklarını
onun (his/her/its) bankını banklarını
bizim (our) bankımızı banklarımızı
sizin (your) bankınızı banklarınızı
onların (their) bankını or banklarını banklarını
dative
singular plural
mənim (my) bankıma banklarıma
sənin (your) bankına banklarına
onun (his/her/its) bankına banklarına
bizim (our) bankımıza banklarımıza
sizin (your) bankınıza banklarınıza
onların (their) bankına or banklarına banklarına
locative
singular plural
mənim (my) bankımda banklarımda
sənin (your) bankında banklarında
onun (his/her/its) bankında banklarında
bizim (our) bankımızda banklarımızda
sizin (your) bankınızda banklarınızda
onların (their) bankında or banklarında banklarında
ablative
singular plural
mənim (my) bankımdan banklarımdan
sənin (your) bankından banklarından
onun (his/her/its) bankından banklarından
bizim (our) bankımızdan banklarımızdan
sizin (your) bankınızdan banklarınızdan
onların (their) bankından or banklarından banklarından
genitive
singular plural
mənim (my) bankımın banklarımın
sənin (your) bankının banklarının
onun (his/her/its) bankının banklarının
bizim (our) bankımızın banklarımızın
sizin (your) bankınızın banklarınızın
onların (their) bankının or banklarının banklarının

Further reading

  • bank” in Obastan.com.

Breton

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *banki.

Pronunciation

Noun

bank m (plural bankeier or bankoù)

  1. bench
  2. bank
    Synonyms: arc'hanti, ti-bank

Derived terms

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

Borrowed from French banque.

Noun

bank (accusative , plural )

  1. bank (financial institution)

Declension

Danish

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French banque, from Italian banco (bench).

Noun

bank c (singular definite banken, plural indefinite banker)

  1. bank (financial institution, branch office, controller of a game, a safe and guaranteed place of storage)
Declension
Derived terms
Descendants

Etymology 2

From German Bank (bench).

Noun

bank c

  1. only used in certain expressions
Derived terms

Noun

bank n (singular definite banket, plural indefinite bank)

  1. knock (an abrupt rapping sound)
  2. (pl) a beating
Declension
Synonyms

Verb

bank

  1. imperative of banke

References

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch banc, from Old Dutch *bank, from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz.

Noun

bank f (plural banken, diminutive bankje n)

  1. bench
    Ik zit graag op die bank in het park.I like sitting on that bench in the park.
    Zet die bloemen op het bankje naast de deur.Put those flowers on the little bench next to the door.
    De oude mannen zaten op de banken en praatten.The old men sat on the benches and talked.
  2. (Netherlands) couch, sofa
    Synonym: sofa
    We hebben een nieuwe bank gekocht voor de woonkamer.We bought a new couch for the living room.
    Het bankje is perfect voor de kinderkamer.The little sofa is perfect for the kids' room.
    De banken in die winkel zijn erg comfortabel.The couches in that store are very comfortable.
  3. place where seashells are found
  4. shallow part of the sea near the coast
Derived terms
Descendants

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch banc, from Italian banco, from Old High German bank, from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz, related to Etymology 1 above.

Noun

bank f (plural banken, diminutive bankje n)

  1. A bank (financial institution)
    Ik moet naar de bank om wat geld op te nemen.I need to go to the bank to withdraw some money.
    Het bankje in het dorp is elke zondag gesloten.The small bank in the village is closed every Sunday.
    De banken zijn gesloten op nationale feestdagen.The banks are closed on national holidays.
  2. (games, gambling) The bank, a player who controls a deposit in some card games or board games and in gambling
  3. A banknote, especially 100 Dutch guilders (also in the diminutives bankie or bankje.)
  4. A bank, collection and/or repository.
Derived terms
financial
other
Descendants

Hungarian

Etymology

From German Bank, from Italian banca.

Pronunciation

Noun

bank (plural bankok)

  1. bank (financial institution)
    Synonym: pénzintézet
  2. (gambling) bank (the sum of money etc. which the dealer or banker has as a fund from which to draw stakes and pay losses)

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
singular plural
nominative bank bankok
accusative bankot bankokat
dative banknak bankoknak
instrumental bankkal bankokkal
causal-final bankért bankokért
translative bankká bankokká
terminative bankig bankokig
essive-formal bankként bankokként
essive-modal
inessive bankban bankokban
superessive bankon bankokon
adessive banknál bankoknál
illative bankba bankokba
sublative bankra bankokra
allative bankhoz bankokhoz
elative bankból bankokból
delative bankról bankokról
ablative banktól bankoktól
non-attributive
possessive - singular
banké bankoké
non-attributive
possessive - plural
bankéi bankokéi
Possessive forms of bank
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. bankom bankjaim
2nd person sing. bankod bankjaid
3rd person sing. bankja bankjai
1st person plural bankunk bankjaink
2nd person plural bankotok bankjaitok
3rd person plural bankjuk bankjaik

Derived terms

Compound words
Expressions

References

  1. ^ Tótfalusi, István. Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára (’A Storehouse of Foreign Words: an explanatory and etymological dictionary of foreign words’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2005. →ISBN

Further reading

  • bank in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
  • bank in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (‘A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2024)

Icelandic

Etymology

Back-formation from banka (to knock, to beat).

Pronunciation

Noun

bank n (genitive singular banks, no plural)

  1. knock, blow

Declension

Indonesian

Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia id

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Dutch bank (bank). Doublet of bangku.

Pronunciation

Noun

bank

  1. bank:
    1. an institution where one can place and borrow money and take care of financial affairs.
    2. a safe and guaranteed place of storage for and retrieval of important items or goods.

Derived terms

Compounds

Further reading

Malay

Malay Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ms

Etymology

Borrowed from English bank, spelled earlier as beng and بيڠک. Doublet of bangku.

Pronunciation

Noun

bank (Jawi spelling بڠک, plural bank-bank, informal 1st possessive bankku, 2nd possessive bankmu, 3rd possessive banknya)

  1. A bank:
    1. An institution that offers various financial services.
    2. A stock or reserve of something for use when it is needed.
      bank darahblood bank

Affixations

Compounds

References

  1. ^ Shellabear, W. G. (1916). An English-Malay Dictionary. Internet Archive. Retrieved February 22, 2024, from https://archive.org/details/englishmalaydict00shelrich/page/38/mode/2up
  2. ^ Ahmad, Z. A. & salawati282. (1964, February 1). Koleksi kamus ZA’BA. AnyFlip. Retrieved February 22, 2024, from https://anyflip.com/mnzoo/mfcf/basic

Further reading

Maltese

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian banco.

Pronunciation

Noun

bank m (plural banek)

  1. bank (financial building or institution)
    Synonym: mislef
  2. bank (an underwater area of higher elevation, a sandbank)

Noun

bank m (plural bankijiet, diminutive bnajjak or banketta)

  1. bench
  2. counter (table or board on which business is transacted)
  3. worktable
  4. judge's seat

Related terms

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English hōbanca (couch) and Old English banc (bank, hillock, embankment), from Proto-Germanic *bankô. Akin to Old Norse bakki (elevation, hill), Norwegian bakke (slope, hill).

Noun

bank (plural banks)

  1. the bank of a river or lake

Descendants

References

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Bokmål Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nb

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French banque, from Italian banco (bench), banca.

Noun

bank m (definite singular banken, indefinite plural banker, definite plural bankene)

  1. a bank (financial institution)
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From the verb banke.

Noun

bank m (definite singular banken, indefinite plural banker, definite plural bankene)

  1. a beat, knock, throb
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Verb

bank

  1. imperative of banke

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology

Borrowed from French banque, from Italian banco (bench), banca.

Pronunciation

Noun

bank m (definite singular banken, indefinite plural bankar, definite plural bankane)

  1. a bank (financial institution)

Derived terms

References

Old High German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *banki.

Noun

bank f

  1. bench

Descendants

  • Middle High German: banc, bank
  • Old French: banc
    • French: banc (see there for further descendants)
    • Norman: banc
    • Middle English: bank, banke
      • English: bank (see there for further descendants)
    • Galician: banco
    • Spanish: banco (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Italian: banco, banca
    • Italian: banco, banca (see there for further descendants)
      • Italian: banchetto (see there for further descendants)
    • Byzantine Greek: πάγκος (pánkos)
    • Middle French: banque (see there for further descendants)
    • German: Bank (see there for further descendants)
  • Medieval Latin: bancus, banca

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

Internationalism; compare English bank. Possibly borrowed from Italian banco via German Bank, or borrowed from English bank via French banque, ultimately from Lombardic bank (bench, counter), from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz (bench, counter), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (to turn, curve, bend, bow). Doublet of bankiet.

Pronunciation

Noun

bank m inan

  1. bank (financial building, institution, or staff)
    bank centralnycentral bank
    bank emisyjnyissuing bank
    bank hipotecznymortgage bank
    bank inwestycyjnyinvestment bank
    bank komercyjnycommercial bank
  2. bank (a safe and guaranteed place of storage for and retrieval of important items or goods)
    bank danychdatabank
    bank genówgene bank
    bank czasutime bank
    bank energii/powerbankpowerbank
    bank spermysperm bank
  3. (gambling, card games) bank (a fund of pieces from which the players are allowed to draw)
    trzymać bankto keep bank

Declension

Derived terms

adjective/adverb
adjectives
adverb
noun
particle
verbs

References

  1. ^ Brückner, Aleksander (1927), “bank”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish), Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna: “z włosk. banco, ‘stół wekslarski’, a to z niem. Bank;”
  2. ^ Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000), “bank”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)

Further reading

  • bank in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • bank in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Slovene

Noun

bánk

  1. inflection of bánka:
    1. genitive dual
    2. genitive plural

Swedish

Etymology

From Dutch bank, German Bank or Low German bank, all from Italian banco, from Old High German banc, from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz.

Pronunciation

Noun

bank c

  1. a bank (financial institution, branch of such an institution)
  2. a bank (place of storage)
  3. a bank (of a river of lake)
  4. a sandbank

Declension

Declension of bank 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative bank banken banker bankerna
Genitive banks bankens bankers bankernas

Derived terms

Descendants

References

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from French banc.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbaŋk/
  • Hyphenation: bank

Noun

bank (definite accusative bankı, plural banklar)

  1. bench (long seat)

Declension

Inflection
Nominative bank
Definite accusative bankı
Singular Plural
Nominative bank banklar
Definite accusative bankı bankları
Dative banka banklara
Locative bankta banklarda
Ablative banktan banklardan
Genitive bankın bankların
Possessive forms
Nominative
Singular Plural
1st singular bankım banklarım
2nd singular bankın bankların
3rd singular bankı bankları
1st plural bankımız banklarımız
2nd plural bankınız banklarınız
3rd plural bankları bankları
Definite accusative
Singular Plural
1st singular bankımı banklarımı
2nd singular bankını banklarını
3rd singular bankını banklarını
1st plural bankımızı banklarımızı
2nd plural bankınızı banklarınızı
3rd plural banklarını banklarını
Dative
Singular Plural
1st singular bankıma banklarıma
2nd singular bankına banklarına
3rd singular bankına banklarına
1st plural bankımıza banklarımıza
2nd plural bankınıza banklarınıza
3rd plural banklarına banklarına
Locative
Singular Plural
1st singular bankımda banklarımda
2nd singular bankında banklarında
3rd singular bankında banklarında
1st plural bankımızda banklarımızda
2nd plural bankınızda banklarınızda
3rd plural banklarında banklarında
Ablative
Singular Plural
1st singular bankımdan banklarımdan
2nd singular bankından banklarından
3rd singular bankından banklarından
1st plural bankımızdan banklarımızdan
2nd plural bankınızdan banklarınızdan
3rd plural banklarından banklarından
Genitive
Singular Plural
1st singular bankımın banklarımın
2nd singular bankının banklarının
3rd singular bankının banklarının
1st plural bankımızın banklarımızın
2nd plural bankınızın banklarınızın
3rd plural banklarının banklarının

Turkmen

Noun

bank (definite accusative banky, plural banklar)

  1. bank

Declension

Derived terms

Volapük

Noun

bank (nominative plural banks)

  1. bank (financial institution)

Declension