Etymograph

English

account

Account comes from Middle English acounte, from Anglo-Norman acunte, from Old French aconte, from aconter ‘to reckon’, from Latin computō ‘to sum up’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomputō1‘to sum up’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400aconter1‘to reckon’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400aconte1
  4. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400acunte1‘account’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500acounte1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611account1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English account
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomputōWiktionary, English account‘to sum up’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400aconterWiktionary, English account‘to reckon’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400aconteWiktionary, English account
  4. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400acunteWiktionary, English account‘account’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500acounteWiktionary, English account
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611accountWiktionary, English account. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest…”

Linked words

through Latin putus

puta, 9 more

through Latin putō ‘to clean, cleanse’

dispute, imp, amputation, putative, indisputable, amputee, repute, indisputably, amputate, imputation, depute, disputation, disputable, 8 more

through Latin computō ‘to sum up’

counter, discount, compute, computation, countable, 1 more

through Old French aconter ‘to reckon’

raconteur

Another origin of account

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEputus
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEputō‘to clean, cleanse’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomputō‘to calculate, compute, reckon together’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400conter‘to count’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400acounter
  6. Englishtodayaccount

Today it means

noun A registry of pecuniary transactions; a written or printed statement of business dealings or debts and credits, and also of other things subjected to a reckoning or review.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “account”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin computō / account

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