bank

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A business where people keep money and borrow it.

   I went to the bank to deposit my paycheck.

2. 2
   noun

   The land along the side of a river or lake.

   We sat on the bank of the river and watched the boats.

3. 3
   noun

   A small container for saving coins at home.

   She dropped a coin into her piggy bank.

4. 4
   noun

   A row of similar things arranged together.

   The pilot checked the bank of switches before takeoff.

5. 5
   verb

   To depend on or trust something to happen.

   Don't bank on the weather staying nice this weekend.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Bank in its several senses ultimately belongs to a word family associated with benches, counters, and raised surfaces. The river-edge sense entered English in the early Middle Ages from Scandinavian, while the financial sense arrived from French or Italian in the late 15th century and originally meant a money dealer’s counter or table. The sense found in a bank of oars or lights came from French and originally denoted a bench or speaking platform.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der. Proto-Germanic *bankiz Proto-West Germanic *banki Lombardic bankbor. Italian bancabor. Middle French banqueder. English bank Inherited 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. For the bench-bank relation, compare typologically Russian ла́вка (lávka), прила́во…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary