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Etymology
From banca rotta, which refers to an out-of-business bank, having its bench physically broken. Money lenders in Northern Italy originally did business in open areas, or big open rooms, with each lender working from his own bench or table. Bankers who became insolvent broke their benches to signify that they were in no shape to accept deposits because they would certainly be unable to repay them due to being insolvent.
Pronunciation
Adjective
bankrupt (comparative more bankrupt, superlative most bankrupt)
- having been legally declared insolvent.
Derived terms
See also
Verb
to bankrupt (third-person singular simple present bankrupts, present participle bankrupting, simple past and past participle bankrupted)
- (transitive) To force into bankruptcy.
This entry is from Wiktionary - Dictionary and thesaurus. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
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