tax

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: tăks, IPA^(key): /tæks/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: tacks
• Rhymes: -æks

Etymology 1

From Middle English taxe, from Middle French taxe, from Medieval Latin taxa. Doublet of task. Displaced native Old English gafol, which was also the word for "tribute" and "rent."

Noun

tax (countable and uncountable, plural taxes)

1. Money paid to the government other than for transaction-specific goods and services.

   Synonyms: impost, tribute, contribution, duty, toll, rate, assessment, exaction, custom, demand, levy

   Antonym: subsidy

   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[1], volume 188, number 23, page 19:

     In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […]  Essential public services are cut so that the rich may pay less tax. The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.

   • 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)

   • Government definition

     The body with the power to make and/or enforce laws to control a country, land area, people or organization. (1 of 5 government definitions)

   • Transaction definition

     The act of conducting or carrying out (business, negotiations, plans). (1 of 7 transaction definitions)

   • Specific definition

     (1 of 19 specific definitions)

   • Goods definition

     plural of good

   • Service definition

     An act of being of assistance to someone. (1 of 15 service definitions)

   • Impost definition

     A tax, tariff or duty that is imposed, especially on merchandise. (1 of 2 impost definitions)

   • Tribute definition

     An acknowledgment of gratitude, respect or admiration; an accompanying gift. (1 of 6 tribute definitions)

   • Contribution definition

     Something given or offered that adds to a larger whole. (1 of 4 contribution definitions)

   • Duty definition

     That which one is morally or legally obligated to do. (1 of 6 duty definitions)

   • Toll definition

     Loss or damage incurred through a disaster. (1 of 6 toll definitions)

   • Rate definition

     The worth of something; value. (1 of 13 rate definitions)

   • Assessment definition

     The act of assessing or an amount (of tax, levy or duty etc) assessed. (1 of 2 assessment definitions)

   • Exaction definition

     The act of demanding with authority, and compelling to pay or yield; compulsion to give or furnish; a levying by force (1 of 3 exaction definitions)

   • Custom definition

     Frequent repetition of the same behavior; way of behavior common to many; ordinary manner; habitual practice; method of doing, living or behaving. (1 of 7 custom definitions)

   • Demand definition

     The desire to purchase goods and services. (1 of 7 demand definitions)

   • Levy definition

     To impose (a tax or fine) to collect monies due, or to confiscate property. (1 of 7 levy definitions)

   • Subsidy definition

     Financial support or assistance, such as a grant. (1 of 2 subsidy definitions)
2. (figuratively, uncountable) A burdensome demand.

   a heavy tax on time or health

   • 1843, Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons - Volume 39, page 234:

     In the expectation that such would be the case, I came but slightly attended, sending most of my people with the heavy baggage by sea to the Indus, and I took every precaution to render the tax of my support as light as possible, by furnishing a memorandum of the number of persons composing my suite, and limiting the amount of supplies each should receive.

   • 1962 August, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 128:

     The extent of the traffic is a tax on the existing yard in the area at Frodingham, the busiest in the District.

   • Burdensome definition

     Characteristic of a burden; arduous or demanding
3. A task exacted from one who is under control; a contribution or service, the rendering of which is imposed upon a subject.

   • Task definition

     A piece of work done as part of one’s duties. (1 of 6 task definitions)

   • Subject definition

     Likely to be affected by or to experience something. (1 of 4 subject definitions)
4. (obsolete) charge; censure
   • 1616–1618, John Fletcher; Philip Massinger; Nathan Field, “The Queene of Corinth”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Flie far from hence
     All private taxes, immodest phrases,
     What e'r may but shew like vicious.

   • Charge definition

     The amount of money levied for a service. (1 of 22 charge definitions)

   • Censure definition

     The act of blaming, criticizing, or condemning as wrong; reprehension. (1 of 4 censure definitions)

Hyponyms

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Tok Pisin: takis
  • → Rotokas: takisi
• → Hindi: टैक्स (ṭaiks)
• → Urdu: ٹیکس‎ (ṭaiks)

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English taxen, from Anglo-Norman taxer (“to impose a tax”), from Latin taxāre, present active infinitive of taxō (“I handle”, “I censure”, “I appraise”, “I compute”).

Verb

tax (third-person singular simple present taxes, present participle taxing, simple past and past participle taxed)

1. (transitive) To impose and collect a tax from (a person or company).

   Some think to tax the wealthy is the fairest.

   • 2018, Kristin Lawless, Formerly known as food, →ISBN, page 251:

     Taxing the food and chemical industries, which make billions off our food consumption, could be another way to generate revenue for the program.

2. (transitive) To impose and collect a tax on (something).

   Some think to tax wealth is destructive of a private sector.

4. (transitive) To make excessive demands on.

   Do not tax my patience.

   • 1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], OCLC 364546898:

     The people of the southeasterly clusters—concerning whom, however, but little is known—have a bad name as cannibals; and for that reason their hospitality is seldom taxed by the mariner.

   • 1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 103:

     The heavy freight traffic which shares the double line between Paddington and Wolverhampton with the passenger traffic has taxed the ingenuity of the timetable planners.

   • 2007, January 16, “IBM”, in IBM - Reinventing the invention system - United States‎^[2]:

     But patent applications are increasingly accompanied by volumes and volumes of data on DVD, which taxes the resources of the patent office.

   • Paddington definition

     A placename:

     1. An urban area of Westminster, London, England, noted for its major railway terminus .
     2. An inner city area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

     (1 of 4 Paddington definitions)

   • Wolverhampton definition

     A city and metropolitan borough of the West Midlands, England.
5. (transitive) To accuse.

   • Accuse definition

     to find fault with, blame, censure (1 of 3 accuse definitions)
6. (transitive) To examine accounts in order to allow or disallow items.

   • Examine definition

     to observe or inspect carefully or critically (1 of 4 examine definitions)

Derived terms

• taxable
• taxation

Translations

Anagrams

• ATX, Axt, xat

Latin

Alternative forms

• tuxtax

Interjection

tax

1. an onomatopoeia expressing the sound of blows, whack, crack
   • c. 197 BCE, Plautus, Persa :

     Tax tax- tergo meo erit. Non curo.

     My back will get whack, whack. I don't care.

   • Onomatopoeia definition

     The property of a word of sounding like what it represents. (1 of 4 onomatopoeia definitions)

   • Whack definition

     The sound of a heavy strike. (1 of 9 whack definitions)

   • Crack definition

     (1 of 23 crack definitions)

   • Circa definition

     Approximately, about, around

   • Tergum definition

     The upper or dorsal surface of an articulated animal such as an arthropod.

   • Meus definition

     plural of meu

   • Sum definition

     A quantity obtained by addition or aggregation. (1 of 7 sum definitions)

   • Non definition

     ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Old Norse.

   • Curo definition

     first-person singular present indicative form of curar

   • Back definition

     At or near the rear. (1 of 8 back definitions)

   • Don't definition

     do not (negative auxiliary) (1 of 3 don't definitions)

   • Care definition

     Grief, sorrow. (1 of 7 care definitions)

References

• “tax”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• tax in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• “tax”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

tax

1. Alternative form of taxe

   • Taxe definition

     tax

Etymology 2

Verb

tax

1. Alternative form of taxen

   • Taxen definition

     to impose or collect a tax. (1 of 3 taxen definitions)

Northern Kurdish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɑːx/

Noun

tax f (Arabic spelling تاخ‎)

1. district, neighborhood, quarter

   • District definition

     An administrative division of an area. (1 of 3 district definitions)

   • Neighborhood definition

     The residential area near one's home. (1 of 16 neighborhood definitions)

   • Quarter definition

     A fourth part of something.

     1. Each of four equal parts into which something can be divided; a fourth part. (1 of 29 quarter definitions)
2. district, region

   • Region definition

     Any considerable and connected part of a space or surface; specifically, a tract of land or sea of considerable but indefinite extent; a country; a district; in a broad sense, a place without special reference to location or extent but viewed as an entity for geographical, social or cultural reasons. (1 of 12 region definitions)

References

• Chyet, Michael L. (2003), “tax”, in Kurdish–English Dictionary, with selected etymologies by Martin Schwartz, New Haven and London: Yale University Press

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Homophone: tacks

Noun

tax c

1. a dachshund (dog breed)

   • Dachshund definition

     A certain breed of dog having short legs and a long trunk, including standard-sized, miniature (smooth-haired, long-haired, and short-haired) varieties.

Declension