expense

B1 Topic:Personal Finance

Also spelled expence

US /ɪkˈspɛns/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like expanse /ɛ/ vs /æ/

Freq #6232

Meanings

1

noun
The money that you spend on something.

She went to great expense to give her children the best education.
2

noun
The money spent at work that an employer pays back.

I kept a careful record of my expenses at the conference.
3

noun
Something lost or sacrificed in order to gain something else.

He won the match at the expense of an injured knee.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the money that you spend on... cost outlay

2 noun · the money spent at work... disbursement

Word family

Forms expencesexpenses

Derived forms all-expense

Related forms expend expensive

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

interest expense
the cost of interest charged on borrowed money

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Expense entered English in the late Middle Ages and goes back to Latin expendere “pay out.” It shares a root with Old English spend.

Etymology

From Middle English expense, from Anglo-Norman expense and Old French espense, from Late Latin expēnsa, from Latin expendō. See expend. Doublet of speso.

*(s)pend- Proto-Indo-European expense Middle English espense Old French expēnsa la-lat expendō Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Personal Finance Money & Finance

External links

# expense

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ɪkˈspɛns/
**Frequency rank:** 6232

## Meanings
1. The money that you spend on something.
2. The money spent at work that an employer pays back.
3. Something lost or sacrificed in order to gain something else.

## Examples
- She went to great expense to give her children the best education.
- I kept a careful record of my expenses at the conference.
- He won the match at the expense of an injured knee.

## Derived Forms
- all-expense

## Related Forms
- expend
- expensive

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *(s)pend-
- Root: expense
- Root: espense
- Root: expēnsa
- Root: expendō

## Etymology
From Middle English expense, from Anglo-Norman expense and Old French espense, from Late Latin expēnsa, from Latin expendō. See expend. Doublet of speso.

## AI Etymology
Expense comes from Middle English expense, from Anglo-Norman expense and Old French espense, from Late Latin expēnsa, from Latin expendō. See expend. Doublet of speso. In current use, the main senses are “The money that you spend on something” and “The money spent at work that an employer pays back”.

## Topics
- Personal Finance
- Money & Finance

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