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tax

Pronunciation: /tæks/

The English word “tax” has 8 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Money or goods collected by a government (or an entity to whom the government has delegated this power, e.g. in tax farming) to fund itself and its services, for example by levying a charge on income, purchases (sales), property or harvest, other than that money which is collected by the government in exchange for specific goods (e.g. the purchase of surplus vehicles).
  2. A charge (of money, food, labor, etc) collected by a person, organization, etc; something required (exacted) from someone who is (really or notionally) under the control of the taxer, such as a contribution or service.
  3. A burdensome demand

verb

  1. To impose and collect a tax from (a person or company).
  2. To impose and collect a tax on (something).
  3. To make excessive demands on.
  4. To accuse.
  5. To examine accounts in order to allow or disallow items.

Etymology

From Middle English taxe, from Middle French taxe, from Medieval Latin taxa, from Latin taxō (“to appraise, value, estimate; (medieval) to tax”). Doublet of task. Displaced native Old English gafol, which was also the word for “tribute” and “rent”.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.