tontine

C2 Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈtɑnˌtiːn/ UK /ˈtɒntiːn/ See IPA manual

Freq #92377

Meanings

1

noun
a joint investment or annuity in which the benefits or shares of members who die pass to the surviving participants

The last surviving subscriber received the remaining income from the tontine.
2

noun
a life-insurance arrangement that distributes accumulated benefits among participants who survive a specified period

The insurer once sold tontines that rewarded policyholders who remained alive and paid up.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a joint investment or... survivorship annuitytontine fund

2 noun · a life-insurance... tontine insurancesurvivorship insurance

Word family

Forms tontines

Derived forms tontiner

Related forms annuity insurance survivorship lottery

Etymology

From French tontine, named after Lorenzo de Tonti, the Neapolitan banker associated with a survivorship-finance proposal presented in France in the seventeenth century. The name later covered related annuity and insurance schemes.

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# tontine

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈtɑnˌtiːn/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈtɒntiːn/
**Frequency rank:** 92377

## Meanings
1. a joint investment or annuity in which the benefits or shares of members who die pass to the surviving participants
2. a life-insurance arrangement that distributes accumulated benefits among participants who survive a specified period

## Examples
- The last surviving subscriber received the remaining income from the tontine.
- The insurer once sold tontines that rewarded policyholders who remained alive and paid up.

## Synonyms
- survivorship annuity
- tontine fund
- tontine insurance

## Derived Forms
- tontiner

## Related Forms
- annuity
- insurance
- survivorship
- lottery

## Etymology
From French tontine, named after Lorenzo de Tonti, the Neapolitan banker associated with a survivorship-finance proposal presented in France in the seventeenth century. The name later covered related annuity and insurance schemes.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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