cheque
Pluralcheques
US spellingcheck
- 1A written instruction telling a bank to pay money to a person or organisation.
The landlord wanted the deposit by cheque, so I wrote one out at the kitchen table.
She paid the cheque in through her banking app and waited for it to clear before spending the money.
UsageYou pay by cheque, write someone a cheque, and they pay it in and wait for it to clear.
Note
The spelling of Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth; American English writes the same word check. A variant of check, probably reshaped by exchequer, it became the standard spelling for the banking sense in the nineteenth century, a sense that grew from check as a means of verification against forgery.
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Origin
A variant of check, probably influenced by exchequer. It became the standard British spelling for the banking sense in the nineteenth century.
Checked 4 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Cheque originated as a variant of check, possibly influenced by exchequer. en.wiktionary.org
- Earlier attestations are reported: 1706 for a counterfoil and 1717 for the payment instruction itself. Wiktionary's 1790s date conflicts with these. de.wikipedia.org