assets
- 1Property or objects of value that one possesses, especially as available to meet one's debts.
The bank froze the couple's assets while the fraud case went to trial.
Investors looked closely at the company's assets, from its factories to the patents it held.
UsageMost often a person's or firm's assets, set against what they owe, their liabilities.
Similarholdings, property, possessions, resources, wealth
Oppositedebts
Note
When assets outweigh liabilities, a person or business has a positive net worth. Unlike the balance-sheet column, this sense refers to the property itself rather than to where it is written down.
- 2Plural of asset: two or more separate useful or valuable things, qualities or people, each counted on its own, such as a person's strengths or a team's best players.
Patience and a good memory were her chief assets as an interviewer.
The agency lost two of its best assets when the network was exposed.
Note
Here the plural came before the singular. Anglo-Norman asetz, from Old French assez, "enough," entered English as a single word meaning enough to meet liabilities. Speakers later heard its final -s as a plural ending, and asset was formed from it. The everyday plural now carries every sense of asset: useful qualities such as patience, reusable components and frameworks, and agents and sources in intelligence work.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The form assets preceded asset, which was formed from it. en.wiktionary.org
- Assets derives from Anglo-Norman asetz and Old French assez, meaning enough. en.wiktionary.org
- Assets was originally singular and meant enough to meet liabilities. en.wiktionary.org
- Assets was reinterpreted as plural, producing the singular asset by back-formation. en.wiktionary.org
- 3In accounting, the left side of a balance sheet, listing what an entity owns.
The new delivery trucks were recorded under assets, and the loan that paid for them under liabilities.
If the assets do not balance the other side of the sheet, something has been misposted.
UsageOften with under and no article: trucks recorded under assets, the loan under liabilities.
Oppositeliabilities
Note
Accountants use the word for a place on the page rather than for the things themselves. That side of the balance sheet must equal liabilities plus owners' equity, because the sheet balances by construction. A mismatch points to a bookkeeping error, not to a loss, and that is what separates this sense from the everyday financial meaning.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- In this accounting sense, assets denotes the left side of a balance sheet. en.wiktionary.org
- Assets must equal liabilities plus owners' equity. sec.gov
- Double-entry bookkeeping preserves the accounting equation; unequal totals indicate an accounting error. openstax.org
- A loss does not itself make the balance sheet unequal; it reduces equity. en.wikipedia.org
- 4In law, the property of a person who has died or gone bankrupt that is available to pay their debts and, for an estate, any legacies.
The trustee listed every one of the bankrupt's assets, down to the office chairs.
Creditors are paid from the estate's assets before any legacy is distributed.
Less common meaning
- 5Breasts or buttocks when referring to a woman, and genitals when referring to a man.
A crude remark about the waitress's assets got him thrown out of the bar.
He adjusted his shorts, worried the camera had caught more of his assets than he intended.
UsagePraise like her greatest assets can be heard this way, so take care when praising someone's qualities.
Note
A joking use that plays on the word's sense of valuable things one has: a body's assets are what it has to offer. Used about another person, it often sounds crude or objectifying.
assets is a form of asset
asset, noun: A thing or quality that has value, especially one that brings in a steady flow of money. Full entry
- Forms
- assetassets plural
- Spelling
- asset → assets: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /s/.
Practice
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Origin
The root is Old French "assez," meaning "enough," which took the form "asetz" in Anglo-Norman. At first the word was singular and meant "enough to meet liabilities"; English speakers later reanalyzed it as a plural.