accrue

English

WOTD – 10 October 2008

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

• First attested in mid 15th century.
• From Middle English acrewen, borrowed from Old French acreüe, past participle of accreistre (“to increase”), from Latin accrēsco (“increase”), from ad (“in addition”) + crēscō (“to grow”).
• Compare accretion, accresce, accrete, crew, crescent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈkɹuː/
• IPA^(key): /ə.ˈkɹu/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

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  Rhymes: -uː

Verb

1. (intransitive) To increase, to augment; to come to by way of increase; to arise or spring as a growth or result; to be added as increase, profit, or damage, especially as the produce of money lent.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

     And though pow'r fail'd, her Courage did accrue

   • (Can we date this quote by Abbott and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Interest accrues to principal.

   • (Can we date this quote by Junius and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     The great and essential advantages accruing to society from the freedom of the press

2. (intransitive, accounting) To be incurred as a result of the passage of time.

   The monthly financial statements show all the actual but only some of the accrued expenses.

3. (transitive) to accumulate

   He has accrued nine sick days.

4. (intransitive, law) To become an enforceable and permanent right.

Synonyms

• (increase): rise; see also Thesaurus:increase
• (accumulate): add up; see also Thesaurus:accumulate

Antonyms

• (accounting): amortize, defer, prepay

Translations

increase

• Bulgarian: нараствам (bg) (narastvam)
• Danish: opsamle, indsamle (da), tilfalde, påløbe
• Dutch: verhogen (nl), groeien (nl)
• Finnish: kasvaa (fi)
• French: accroître (fr)
• Frisian: krije, groeien
• German: anfallen (de)
• Ido: amaseskar (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingua: accrescer, aAccumular
• Interlingue: ,
• Italian: accrescersi (it)
• Maori: hua
• Portuguese: acrescer (pt), acumular (pt)
• Russian: прираста́ть (ru) impf (prirastátʹ), прирасти́ (ru) pf (prirastí), добавля́ться (ru) impf (dobavljátʹsja), доба́виться (ru) pf (dobávitʹsja), нараста́ть (ru) impf (narastátʹ), нарасти́ (ru) pf (narastí)
• Spanish: acrecentar (es), acumular (es), aumentar (es)
• Swedish: öka (sv), växa till

to be incurred as a result of the passage of time

• Maori: hua
• Russian: начислять (ru) (načisljatʹ)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: devengar (es)

to become an enforceable and permanent right

• Bulgarian: полагам се (polagam se)
• Spanish: adquirir (es)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Noun

accrue (plural accrues)

1. (obsolete) Something that accrues; advantage accruing

Further reading

• “accrue”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “accrue”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.kʁy/

Noun

accrue f (plural accrues)

1. dry land created by draining

Verb

accrue

1. feminine singular of the past participle of accroître