paycheck

The word 'paycheck' is a transparent American English compound from the early 20th century, directly combining two common financial terms. The first element, 'pay', traces back to the Latin concept of pacāre, meaning to pacify or settle a debt, evolving through French into the English sense of giving money for service. The second element, 'check', has a more colorful journey from the Persian word for 'king' (shāh), entering English via the game of chess and acquiring the financial sense of a written order that stops or controls the payment of funds from one's account. The compound logically denotes the specific check issued as payment for work, embodying the final settlement of the employer's debt to the employee.

Structure: pay (to give money) + check (a written order to a bank) - pay: From Middle English payen, from Old French paier, from Latin pacāre ("to appease, pacify"), from pāx ("peace"). In this compound, it functions as the attributive noun meaning "for wages". - check: From Middle English chek, from Old French eschec, from Persian shāh ("king"). In this compound, it functions as the noun meaning "a written order for money".