cheque
UK[tʃek]US[tʃek]
n
a printed form, used instead of money, to make payments from your bank account.
Etymology
the word 'cheque' entered english via the british financial spelling variant of 'check'. its journey begins with the persian word 'shah', meaning 'king', which passed into arabic and then old french as 'eschec', referring to the game of chess and specifically the declaration 'check!'. this evolved into the general sense of a means of verification or control, as in checking a list. in the 18th century, the financial instrument emerged, likely from the idea of a counterfoil used to verify or 'check' a payment. the distinct spelling 'cheque' was adopted in british english to differentiate the financial document from other meanings of 'check'.
Analysis
the word 'cheque' is a loanword from english, where it is a variant spelling of 'check' in the specific financial sense. its ultimate origin is from the old french 'eschec', meaning 'a check at chess', from the persian 'shah', meaning 'king'. in this context, it functions as a simplex noun.
Examples
please make the cheque payable to the company name.
he wrote a cheque to cover the cost of the repairs.
the bank will hold the cheque for five working days before clearing the funds.