bankrupt

English

Etymology

From Italian banca rotta, which refers to an out-of-business bank, having its bench physically broken. When a moneylender in Northern Italy became insolvent, they would break the bench they worked from to signify that they were no longer in business. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbæŋ.kɹəpt/, /ˈbæŋ.kɹʌpt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbæŋk.ɹəpt/, /ˈbæŋk.ɹʌpt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Adjective

bankrupt (comparative more bankrupt, superlative most bankrupt)

1. (finance) In a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay one's debts.

   a bankrupt merchant

2. Having been legally declared insolvent.
3. Destitute of, or wholly lacking (something once possessed, or something one should possess).

   a morally bankrupt politician

   • 1715, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Rivals:

     bankrupt in gratitude

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for bankrupt in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:impoverished

Derived terms

• bankrupt cart
• bankruptcy
• go bankrupt

Translations

having been legally declared insolvent

• Arabic: مُفْلِس‎ (ar) (muflis)
• Bulgarian: банкрут (bg) (bankrut)
• Catalan: arruïnat (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 破產著 (zh), 破产着 (zh) (pòchǎnzhe)

• Danish: bankerot, fallit, konkurs
• Dutch: bankroet (nl), in faling, failliet (nl)
• Esperanto: bankrota
• Finnish: vararikossa, vararikkoinen, konkurssissa
• French: en faillite (fr), failli (fr)
• German: bankrott (de)
• Greek: χρεωκοπημένος (el) (chreokopiménos)
• Hebrew: פושט רגל‎ (he) m (poshet' regel), פושטת רגל‎ f (poshet'et regel)
• Hindi: दिवालिया (hi) m (divāliyā), दिवलीया m (divlīyā)
• Icelandic: gjaldþrota
• Indonesian: bangkrut (id)

• Italian: fallito (it)
• Japanese: 破産した (ja) (はさんした, hasan-shita), 倒産した (ja) (とうさんした, tōsan-shita), 破綻した (ja) (はたんした, hatan-shita)
• Latin: decoctor
• Malay: bangkrap, muflis
• Maori: pēkerapu, mone
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: konkurs

  Nynorsk: konkurs

• Plautdietsch: bankrott
• Polish: zbankrutowany m
• Portuguese: bancarrota f, falido (pt)
• Russian: обанкро́тившийся (ru) (obankrótivšijsja)
• Spanish: quebrado (es), arruinado (es)
• Swedish: bankrutt (sv)
• Tagalog: pagkalugi, bangkarote
• Ukrainian: банкру́т (uk) m (bankrút), банкро́т (uk) m (bankrót)
• Westrobothnian: utsjylli

See also

• defunct
• illiquid
• insolvent

Verb

bankrupt (third-person singular simple present bankrupts, present participle bankrupting, simple past and past participle bankrupted)

1. (transitive) To force into bankruptcy.

Translations

force into bankruptcy

• Bulgarian: разорявам (bg) (razorjavam), причинявам фалит на (pričinjavam falit na)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 破產 (zh), 破产 (zh) (pòchǎn)

• Esperanto: bankroti
• Finnish: pakottaa konkurssiin, saattaa konkurssiin

• German: in den Konkurs treiben (de)
• Ido: bankrotigar (io)
• Italian: fallire (it)
• Maori: pēkerapu, whakamone
• Norwegian: konkurs, bankerott, insolvent
• Russian: обанкро́тить (ru) pf (obankrótitʹ); разоря́ть (ru) impf (razorjátʹ), разори́ть (ru) pf (razorítʹ)

Noun

bankrupt (plural bankrupts)

1. One who becomes unable to pay his or her debts; an insolvent person.
2. (Britain, law, obsolete) A trader who secretes himself, or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Blackstone to this entry?)

Translations

insolvent person

• Finnish: vararikkoinen
• Italian: bancarotta (it)
• Maori: pēkerapu

• Russian: банкро́т (ru) m (bankrót)

References

• Michael Quinion (2004), “Bankrupt”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.