payroll

English

Etymology

pay +‎ roll

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪɹəʊl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪɹoʊl/
• Rhymes: -eɪɹəʊl

Noun

payroll (plural payrolls)

1. A list of employees who receive salary or wages, together with the amounts due to each.
2. The total sum of money paid to employees.
3. (accounting) The calculation of salaries and wages and the deduction of taxes etc.; the department in a company responsible for this.
4. (euphemistic) Bribes paid to people.
   • 1957, Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged:

     I know that the deal started with the boys in Santiago, because they’ve been on the d’Anconia pay roll for centuries — well, no, ‘pay roll’ is an honorable word, it would be more exact to say that d’Anconia Copper has been paying them protection money for centuries — isn't that what your gangsters call it?

   • 1972, The Godfather, spoken by Michael Corleone:

     We can spread a rumor this cop was dirty. Look, Tom, we have newspaper people on the payroll, don't we?

Synonyms

• (list): paysheet

Derived terms

• e-payroll
• payroll tax
• payroll vote

 

Related terms

• payslip

Translations

list of employees who receive salary or wages, together with the amounts due to each

• Bulgarian: платежна ведомост f (platežna vedomost)
• Catalan: nòmina (ca) f
• Dutch: loonlijst (nl)
• Finnish: palkkalista (fi)
• French: registre de paie m, paie (fr) f
• German: Gehaltsliste (de) f, Lohnliste f
• Greek: μισθοδοσία (el) f (misthodosía)
• Hungarian: bérlista (hu)
• Italian: ruolino paga m, ruolo paga m
• Polish: lista płac f
• Romanian: stat de plată (ro) n
• Russian: платежные ведомости f pl (platežnyje vedomosti)
• Spanish: nómina (es) f (Latin America), planilla (es) f (Central America), plantilla (es) f (Spain)
• Swedish: lönelista (sv) c
• Tagalog: talasahuran

total sum of money paid to employees

• Catalan: massa salarial f
• Finnish: palkkasumma (fi), palkkakulut pl
• French: masse salariale (fr) f
• German: Gehaltskosten f, Lohnkosten (de) f
• Korean: 인건비 (ko) (in'geonbi)
• Russian: фонд заработной платы m (fond zarabotnoj platy)
• Tagalog: talasahuran

calculation of salaries and wages, department that does this

• Bulgarian: счетоводство n (sčetovodstvo)
• Finnish: palkanlaskenta, palkkatoimisto
• German: Gehaltsabrechnung (de) f, Lohn- und Gehaltsabteilung f
• Greek: μισθοδοσία (el) f (misthodosía)
• Hungarian: bérszámfejtés (hu)
• Russian: расчётный лист m (rasčótnyj list), платёжная ве́домость f (platjóžnaja védomostʹ)

Verb

payroll (third-person singular simple present payrolls, present participle payrolling, simple past and past participle payrolled)

1. (transitive) To place on a payroll.
   • 1985, The Code of Federal regulations of the United States of America, page 37:

     Grantees may elect to payroll the enrollees through their own payroll system if the payroll system is consistent with regulations contained herein.

Anagrams

• polarly