income

English

Etymology

From Middle English income, perhaps continuing (in altered form) Old English incyme (“an in-coming, entrance”), equivalent to in- +‎ come. Cognate with Dutch inkomen (“income, earnings, gainings”), German Einkommen (“income, earnings, competence”), Icelandic innkváma (“income”), Danish indkomst (“income”), Swedish inkomst (“income”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪnˌkʌm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

income (countable and uncountable, plural incomes)

1. Money one earns by working or by capitalising on the work of others.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:

     The struggle with ways and means had recommenced, more difficult now a hundredfold than it had been before, because of their increasing needs. Their income disappeared as a little rivulet that is swallowed by the thirsty ground.

   • 2010 Dec. 4, Evan Thomas, "Why It’s Time to Worry", Newsweek (retrieved 16 June 2013):

     In 1970 the richest 1 percent made 9 percent of the nation’s income; now that top slice makes closer to 25 percent.

   • 2013 June 7, Joseph Stiglitz, “Globalisation is about taxes too”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 19:

     It is the starving of the public sector which has been pivotal in America no longer being the land of opportunity – with a child's life prospects more dependent on the income and education of its parents than in other advanced countries.

   • Money definition

     A legally or socially binding conceptual contract of entitlement to wealth, void of intrinsic value, payable for all debts and taxes, and regulated in supply. (1 of 8 money definitions)

   • Earn definition

     To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work. (1 of 5 earn definitions)

   • Work definition

     Employment.

     1. Labour, occupation, job. (1 of 19 work definitions)

   • Capitalise definition

     Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of capitalize.
2. (business, commerce) Money coming in to a fund, account, or policy.

   • Business definition

     A specific commercial enterprise or establishment. (1 of 17 business definitions)

   • Fund definition

     A sum or source of money. (1 of 4 fund definitions)

   • Account definition

     A registry of pecuniary transactions; a written or printed statement of business dealings or debts and credits, and also of other things subjected to a reckoning or review. (1 of 10 account definitions)

   • Policy definition

     A principle of behaviour, conduct etc. thought to be desirable or necessary, especially as formally expressed by a government or other authoritative body. (1 of 9 policy definitions)
3. (obsolete) A coming in; arrival; entrance; introduction.
   • 1667, George Rust, A Funeral Sermon, preached at the obsequies of […] Jeremy Lord Bishop of Down

     more abundant incomes of light and strength from God

   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lvcrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], OCLC 236076664:

     Pain payes the income of ech precious thing,

   • Arrival definition

     The act of arriving (reaching a certain place). (1 of 5 arrival definitions)

   • Entrance definition

     The action of entering, or going in. (1 of 9 entrance definitions)

   • Introduction definition

     The act or process of introducing. (1 of 4 introduction definitions)
4. (archaic or dialectal, Scotland) A newcomer or arrival; an incomer.

   • Newcomer definition

     One who has recently come to a community; a recent arrival. (1 of 2 newcomer definitions)

   • Incomer definition

     One who comes in. (1 of 2 incomer definitions)
5. (obsolete) An entrance-fee.

   • Fee definition

     A right to the use of a superior's land, as a stipend for services to be performed; also, the land so held; a fief. (1 of 7 fee definitions)
6. (archaic) A coming in as by influx or inspiration, hence, an inspired quality or characteristic, as courage or zeal; an inflowing principle.
   • [1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, OCLC 614803194; The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], volume (please specify the book number), new edition, London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, OCLC 987451361:

     I would then make in indeed and steep / My income in their bloods.

   • Influx definition

     A flow inward or into something; a coming in. (1 of 3 influx definitions)

   • Inspiration definition

     The drawing of air into the lungs, accomplished in mammals by elevation of the chest walls and flattening of the diaphragm, as part of the act of respiration. (1 of 6 inspiration definitions)

   • Quality definition

     Level of excellence. (1 of 8 quality definitions)

   • Characteristic definition

     Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

   • Courage definition

     The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate. (1 of 3 courage definitions)

   • Zeal definition

     The fervour or tireless devotion for a person, cause, or ideal and determination in its furtherance; diligent enthusiasm; powerful interest. (1 of 3 zeal definitions)

   • Principle definition

     A fundamental assumption or guiding belief. (1 of 9 principle definitions)
7. (UK dialectal, Scotland) A disease or ailment without known or apparent cause, as distinguished from one induced by accident or contagion; an oncome.

   • Disease definition

     An abnormal condition of a human, animal or plant that causes discomfort or dysfunction; distinct from injury insofar as the latter is usually instantaneously acquired. (1 of 3 disease definitions)

   • Ailment definition

     Something which ails one; a disease; sickness.

   • Oncome definition

     To arrive; come to; come on.
8. That which is taken into the body as food; the ingesta; sometimes restricted to the nutritive, or digestible, portion of the food.

   • Ingesta definition

     Material introduced into the body by the stomach or alimentary canal.

Antonyms

• (money coming in): outgo

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• come in