different between debt vs peonage

English

Alternative forms

• dette (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English dette, dett, borrowed from Old French dete (French dette), from Medieval Latin d?bita, from Latin d?bitum (“what is owed, a debt, a duty”), neuter of d?bitus, perfect passive participle of d?be? (“I owe”), contraction of *dehibe? (“I have from”), from de (“from”) + habe? (“I have”). Doublet of debit.

The unpronounced "b" in the modern English spelling is a Latinisation from the Latin etymon d?bitum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?t/
• Rhymes: -?t
• Homophone: death (with th-stopping)

Noun

debt (countable and uncountable, plural debts)

1. An action, state of mind, or object one has an obligation to perform for another, adopt toward another, or give to another.
2. The state or condition of owing something to another.
3. (finance) Money that one person or entity owes or is required to pay to another, generally as a result of a loan or other financial transaction.
4. (law) An action at law to recover a certain specified sum of money alleged to be due.

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

Derived terms

Related terms

• debit
• debitor
• debtor
• indebted

Translations

See also

• owe

Further reading

• debt in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• debt in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Middle English

Noun

debt

1. Alternative form of dette

English

Etymology

From peon +? -age.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?pi??n?d?/

Noun

peonage (plural peonages)

1. The state of being a peon; the system of paying back debt through servitude and labour; loosely, any system of involuntary servitude.
   • 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 217:

     But there was work to be done down in the Salinas Valley where César Chávez was organizing the grape pickers and lettuce workers out of their state of un-unionized peonage.

   • 2014, Michael Nava, The City of Palaces, Terrace Books 2014, p. 191:

     "It wasn't just the crowds," Luis said softly. "I saw with my own eyes that Díaz's México is a Potemkin village, Miguel. The México profundo where the poor are so hungry they eat grass and bark. I met Indians whose land is being devoured by Díaz's cronies, entire towns swallowed up, and the people reduced to peonage. I talked to Mexican railroad workers who are paid a fraction of what the American owners pay their own countrymen for the same work."

Related terms

• peonage slavery on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Translations

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “peonage”, in Online Etymology Dictionary