Bank

See also: bank, Bånk, Bánk, bänk, and Bänk

English

Etymology 1

From Old English banc (“bank, hillock, embankment”), from Proto-Germanic *bankô.

Proper noun

Bank

1. A village in the New Forest in Hampshire, England.
2. (rail transport) A major London Underground station in the City of London, named after the Bank of England and one of the busiest stations on the network (OS grid ref TQ3281)
   • 2019 October 23, Paul Stephen delivers a progress report on London Underground's transformative Bank Station capacity upgrade, Rail, page 68:

     Anybody familiar with the London Underground network will know that Bank Tube station is a place to be avoided - if at all possible - on a weekday morning. Located at the very heart of London's 'Square Mile' financial district, some 70,000 people detrain there during the morning peak, to pass through its gatelines and those at the adjoining station at Monument. A further 50,000 passengers squeeze into the station complex at exactly the same time of day, in order to change between the five lines that pass through it.

Etymology 2

Various origins:

• Borrowed from Dutch and German Bank (“bench”), a metonymic occupational surname for someone who worked with a bench or counter, like a money changer.
• Borrowed from Danish and Swedish Bank, a topographic surname from bank (“sandbank”) or, alternatively, a nickname for a loud an noisy person, from bank (“noise”).

Proper noun

Bank (plural Banks)

1. A surname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Bank is the 12953^rd most common surname in the United States, belonging to 2371 individuals. Bank is most common among White (80.05%) and Black/African American (10.04%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Bank”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 1, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 95.

Anagrams

• Knab, knab, nabk

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baŋk/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aŋk

Etymology 1

From Middle High German and Old High German banc, bank (“height”), from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz. Related to Old Saxon bank.

Noun

Bank f (genitive Bank, plural Bänke)

1. bench (which people sit on); pew
2. workbench (which things can be set down on)
3. bank (collection of material in a body of water)
4. (soccer) substitutes' bench

Declension

Declension of Bank [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Bank	die	Bänke
genitive	einer	der	Bank	der	Bänke
dative	einer	der	Bank	den	Bänken
accusative	eine	die	Bank	die	Bänke

Hyponyms

• (law) Anklagebank (“dock”, literally “charge bench”)
• Austernbank (“oyster bed, oyster reef”)
• Drehbank
• Fensterbank
• Folterbank (“torture rack”)
• Fußbank
• Hantelbank (“weight bench”)
• Hobelbank (“carpenter's bench”)
• Kirchenbank
• Klopfbank
• Korallenbank (“coral reef”)
• Nebelbank (“fog bank”)
• Sandbank
• Schlachtbank (“slaughterhouse”) (used figuratively)
• Schulbank (“school desk”)
• Sitzbank (“bench”)
• Sonnenbank (“tanning bed, sunbed”)
• Streckbank (“torture rack”)
• Werkbank (“workbench”)
• Wolkenbank (“cloud bank”)

 

Derived terms

• auf die lange Bank schieben (“to procrastinate, to shelve”)
• Bänkelsänger (“minstrel”)

Descendants

• → Danish: bank
• → Norwegian Bokmål: bank

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Italian banco (“bench, bank”), from the same Old High German word banc, bank (“height”) as above.

Noun

Bank f (genitive Bank, plural Banken)

1. bank (financial institution)
2. a facility for storage of a particular thing

Declension

Declension of Bank [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Bank	die	Banken
genitive	einer	der	Bank	der	Banken
dative	einer	der	Bank	den	Banken
accusative	eine	die	Bank	die	Banken

Hyponyms

• Blutbank
• Bundesbank
• Datenbank
• Landesbank
• Notenbank
• Samenbank
• Staatsbank (“state bank”)
• Weltbank
• Zentralbank

 

Derived terms

• Bankgeheimnis
• Bankier
• Bankkauffrau
• Bankkaufmann
• Banknote

 

Descendants

Some descendants may be via other European languages.

• → Bulgarian: банка (banka)
• → Estonian: pank
• → Hungarian: bank
• → Polish: bank
• → Latvian: banka
• → Lithuanian: bankas
• → Lower Sorbian: bank
• → Macedonian: банка (banka)
• → Russian: банк (bank) (see there for further descendants)
• → Samogitian: banks
• → Serbo-Croatian: banka / банка
• → Slovak: banka
• → Swedish: bank (or from Dutch, Low German)
  • → Elfdalian: baunka
  • → Finnish: pankki
• → Yiddish: באַנק (bank)

Further reading

• “Bank” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Bank” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Bank (Geldinstitut, Gebäude)” in Duden online
• “Bank (Sitzgelegenheit)” in Duden online
• Bank on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Middle High German bank, from Old High German bank.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baŋk/, [bɑŋk]
  • Rhymes: -ɑŋk

Noun

Bank f (plural Banken)

1. bank (financial institution)

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German bank, from Old High German bank. Compare German Bank, Dutch bank, English bench.

Noun

Bank f (plural Benk)

1. bench
2. workbench

Plautdietsch

Etymology

Ultimately from Italian banco, itself from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz (“bulge; bench”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baŋk/

Noun

Bank f (plural Banken)

1. bank