Added 9 October 2026
bankrupt
/ˈbæŋk.ɹəpt/ noun
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about bankrupt at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- Someone who has insufficient assets to cover their debts.
verb
-
Reduce to bankruptcy.
My daughter's fancy wedding is going to break me!
adjective
-
Financially ruined.
a bankrupt company
Origin
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.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)