bankrupt
/ˈbæŋk.ɹəpt/
Etymology
Partial calque of Italian bancarotta (literally “a broken bench”), from banca (“bank”, literally “bench”) + rotta (“broken, rupted”), which refers to an out-of-business bank, having its bench physically broken, signifying that the working moneylender was insolvent.
bankrupt means in a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay outstanding debts or meet financial obligations; specifically, having been legally declared insolvent. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 72 out of 100.
bankrupt is pronounced /ˈbæŋk.ɹəpt/.
Why “bankrupt” is a great word
BANKRUPT — [Adjective] Adjudicated by a court as being insolvent and unable to pay outstanding debts. The word is a partial calque of Italian bancarotta, from banca ("bank, bench") + rotta ("broken, rupted"), literally "broken bench," referring to the medieval practice of breaking a moneylender's bench to signify insolvency. Unlike "insolvent," which describes a private financial state, or "destitute," which conveys raw material poverty, bankrupt is a formal verdict, a civic death. It is the splintered wood of the trader's counter, the final ledger entry in red ink, and the hollow echo of a vault inventoried and emptied—the cold machinery of law pronouncing what the heart already knows.
adj
- In a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay outstanding debts or meet financial obligations; specifically, having been legally declared insolvent.“a bankrupt merchant”
- Destitute of, or wholly lacking a good quality, value, etc. one should possess or once possessed.“a morally bankrupt politician”
noun
- One who becomes unable to pay his or her debts; an insolvent person; a bankruptee.
- A trader who secretes himself, or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors.
verb
- To force into bankruptcy.“The cost of the Mendip line had, however, bankrupted the S.D.R. [Somerset & Dorset Railway], and it was leased to the two larger companies for 999 years in 1875, and named the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway.”
- to get placed last in Tycoon with the bankruptcy rule