different between bankruptcy vs bankrupt

English

Etymology

bankrupt +? -cy

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bæ?k??pts?/

Noun

bankruptcy (countable and uncountable, plural bankruptcies)

1. (finance) A legally declared or recognized condition of insolvency of a person or organization.

Derived terms

• bankr.
• bankruptcy order
• moral bankruptcy
• pre-packaged bankruptcy

Related terms

• bankrupt

See also

• depression, economic downturn, financial crisis, insolvency, recession
• insolvent, receivership
• (slang) broke, bust, belly up
• (verb) (slang) go broke, go bust, go belly up

Translations

English

Etymology

From Italian banca rotta, which refers to an out-of-business bank, having its bench physically broken. When a moneylender in Northern Italy became insolvent, they would break the bench they worked from to signify that they were no longer in business. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?bæ?.k??pt/, /?bæ?.k??pt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?bæ?k.??pt/, /?bæ?k.??pt/

Adjective

bankrupt (comparative more bankrupt, superlative most bankrupt)

1. (finance) In a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay one's debts.

2. Having been legally declared insolvent.
3. Destitute of, or wholly lacking (something once possessed, or something one should possess).

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:impoverished

Derived terms

• bankrupt cart
• bankruptcy
• go bankrupt

Translations

See also

• defunct
• illiquid
• insolvent

Verb

bankrupt (third-person singular simple present bankrupts, present participle bankrupting, simple past and past participle bankrupted)

1. (transitive) To force into bankruptcy.

Translations

Noun

bankrupt (plural bankrupts)

1. One who becomes unable to pay his or her debts; an insolvent person.
2. (Britain, law, obsolete) A trader who secretes himself, or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Blackstone to this entry?)

Translations

References

• Michael Quinion (2004) , “Bankrupt”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, ?ISBN