Bank
/bæŋk/noun
A financial institution that holds, lends, and transfers money, or the land alongside a river.
Did you know?The financial sense of bank comes from Italian *banco* “bench, counter,” because early moneylenders worked from benches in marketplaces — while the river sense comes from a completely different Germanic root meaning a slope or ridge.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*bankô
“a ridge, bank, or slope”
Old English
OE
banke
“the side of a river, slope, or ridge”
Medieval Italian
Italian
banco
“bench, counter used by moneylenders and money-changers”
Middle French
French
banque
“money-changing table; later, a place for financial transactions”
14th Century
English
bank
“a moneychanger’s table, then a financial institution”
Modern English
English
bank
“a financial institution or the land beside a river”