balanced-budget
Meaning
A budget in which income is equal to expenditures, so there is no deficit or surplus.
Structure
Usage
The government passed a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced-budget.
Many economists debate the practical merits of a strict balanced-budget rule during a recession.
Achieving a balanced-budget this fiscal year was the administration's primary goal.
Etymology
The term 'balanced-budget' is a modern compound adjective, later nominalized, that merges two distinct financial concepts. 'Balance' originates from the Latin bilanx, literally "having two scales," a direct reference to the apparatus for weighing, which evolved metaphorically to signify a state of equilibrium between opposing forces. 'Budget' has a more mundane origin, deriving from the Latin bulga (a bag or pouch), which became bougette in Old French, a small bag for carrying coins, and eventually came to mean a statement of financial plans. The compound logically fuses these ideas: a 'budget' that is in a state of 'balance,' where revenues and expenditures are weighed against each other and found equal, much like two balanced scales.
Analysis
- balance: From Latin bilanc-, bilanx (having two scales), via Old French balance. In this compound, it functions as the root conveying the concept of equilibrium. - ed: A common English suffix of Old English origin, used here to form a participial adjective from the verb 'balance'. - budget: From Latin bulga (leather bag), via Old French bougette (little bag). In this compound, it functions as the root noun specifying the financial context.