A Word for Wednesday: Budget

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This week in Britain, all eyes are on Chancellor George Osborne’s fourth budget statement as Britain’s growth forecast is halved.

On a brighter note our word for Wednesday is ‘budget’. Isn’t a bit of etymology slightly more uplifting than the growth forecast?

  • As a noun, the word budget means an estimated financial expenditure over a determined period of time.
    ‘We have a budget of £10,000 to start this company’

  • As a verb, one can ‘budget’ their funds for an event they know will be costly.
    ‘We need to budget our holiday costs carefully’

  • As an adjective, budget describes an inexpensive or lower quality item.
    ‘It’s only a budget laptop as I only need the Internet.’

The word ‘Budget’ evolved from the Old French word ‘bouge’, into the 15th Century word ‘bougette’ both meaning leather bag or pouch. Originating from the Latin bulga, bouges were used as wallets or coin-purses thus leading to the modern usage of the word budget.

If you live in the UK let us hope that your bulga is still bulging after today’s announcements!


20 Mar 2013
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