cheque

• check (US)

A variant of check influenced in spelling by exchequer.

• enPR: chĕk, IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɛk/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Homophones: check, Czech
• Rhymes: -ɛk

cheque (plural cheques)

1. (UK, Commonwealth, Ireland) A draft directing a bank to pay money to a named person or entity.

   I was not carrying cash, so I wrote a cheque for the amount.

   • 1848, John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, published 1920, page 62:

     They do not, however, all deal with the same banker, and when A gives a cheque to B, B usually pays it not into the same but into some other bank.

   • 1999, Sam Seunarine, Office Procedures for the Caribbean, 2nd edition, reprinted 2001, page 126,

     Sometimes abbreviations are used (which would be explained on the statement) and only the last three figures of the cheque number may be given. ‘Sundries’ are cash or cheques paid into the account.

   • 2007, Eric Tyson, Tony Martin, Personal Finance for Canadians for Dummies‎^[1]:

     You can avoid dealing with paper cheques — written or printed — by paying your bills online.

   • 2009, R. Rajesh, T. Sivagnanasithi, Banking Theory Law & Practice, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi, page 206,

     The daily cheque clearings began around 1770 when bank clerks met at the Five Bells (a tavern in Lombard Street in the City of London) to exchange all their cheques in one place and settle the balances in cash.

cheque (not comparable)

1. Obsolete form of chequy.
   • 1722, Alexander Nisbet, A System of Heraldry Speculative and Practical, page 335:

     George PARK of FULFORDLIES, descended of the Family of Parkswells, carries Or, a Fesse Cheque, Gules and Argent; between Three Bucks Heads cabossed, all within a Border of the 2d; Motto, Providentia me committo.

   • 1779, Hugh Clark, Thomas Wormull, The Peerage of the Nobility of England, Scotland, and Ireland, page 137:

     Arms. Argent, a chevron cheque, gules, and of the field, between three bugle horns, sable , garnished of the second, plate 40.

   • 1797, Thomas Langley, The History and Antiquities of the Hundred of Desborough, and Deanery of Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire: Including the Borough Towns of Wycombe and Marlow, and Sixteen Parishes, page 442:

     Parted per pale gules and or, a lion rampant intercharged inter 3 fleurs de lys. 2. A saltire cheque gules and or inter 3 escallop shells gules. 2 Argent, within a bordure azure, semé de fleur de lis or, parted per chevron ermine […]

   • 1820, John Chambers, A General History of Worcester, page 148:

     ... : several escutcheons of arms are dispersed about her, and her kirtle, or inward drapery thus blazoned; Or. a fret gules, and others on her mantle, Or. cheque, gules, and azure, a talbot is couchant at her feet.

• Michael Quinion (2004) “Cheque”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “check”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• cheque on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

cheque m (plural cheques)

1. cheque (a note promising to pay money to a named person or entity)

• check

Borrowed from English cheque.

cheque

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) cheque; check (Classifier: 張／张 c)

Borrowed from English cheque, from Middle English chek, borrowed from Old French eschec, from Medieval Latin scaccus, from Arabic شَاه (šāh), borrowed from Persian شاه (šâh, “king”).

• IPA^(key): /ʃɛk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: che‧que
• Rhymes: -ɛk

cheque m (plural cheques, diminutive chequeje n)

1. check, cheque (a note promising to pay money to a named person or entity)
2. voucher, used to pay a stated amount for a specific purpose

• bankcheque
• betaalcheque
• chequeboek
• chequeverkeer

- vouchers

• cadeaucheque
• dienstencheque
• ecocheque
• maaltijdcheque
• waardecheque

• schaak

• → Sranan Tongo: tyèk
  • → Caribbean Javanese: tyèg

Borrowed from English check.

From English cheque.

cheque m (plural cheques)

1. cheque, blank cheque

• chequeira
• cheque en branco

cheque

1. Alternative form of chek

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -ɛki, (Brazil) -ɛkɨ
• Homophone: xeque
• Hyphenation: che‧que

Borrowed from English cheque, from Old French eschec, from Medieval Latin scaccus, from Arabic شَاه (šāh), from Persian شاه (šâh, “king”), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠 (šāh), from Old Persian 𐏋 (xšāyaθiya, “king”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ksayati (“he rules, he has power over”), from Proto-Indo-European *tke- (“to gain power over, gain control over”). Doublet of xeque and xaque.

cheque m (plural cheques)

1. cheque

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

cheque

1. inflection of checar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃeke/ [ˈt͡ʃe.ke]
• Rhymes: -eke
• Syllabification: che‧que

Borrowed from English cheque. Doublet of jaque.

cheque m (plural cheques)

1. cheque, blank cheque

cheque

1. (colloquial, Honduras) well, fine, okay

cheque

1. inflection of checar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• “cheque”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28
• “cheque” in Diccionario de americanismos, Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, 2010