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accrue

UK/əˈkɹuː/US/əˈkɹu/
verbC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,077 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: accrued, accruing, accrues

To accrue is to build up in amount over time. Interest accrues, accrued holiday, benefits accrue to them.

In accounting it is a precise idea, since an accrued cost is one incurred but not yet paid, and the whole discipline of accrual accounting rests on recording things when they happen rather than when money moves.

Definitions of accrue

  1. 1verbaccrueTo build up in amount over time.C2

    “Interest will accrue on the unpaid bill every month until it is settled.”

accrue is a accumulating.

Where it comes from

Old French acreue comes from accreistre, to increase, from Latin accrescere.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *ḱer-

  2. Latin

    accrēsco — increase

  3. Old French

    acreue

  4. Middle English

    acrewen

  5. English, today

    accrue

Built from

  • accreistre · Old French — to increase
  • ad · Latin — in addition
  • crēscō · Latin — to grow

First attested in mid 15th century. From Middle English acrewen, borrowed from Old French acreue, past participle of accreistre (“to increase”), from Latin accrēsco (“increase”), from ad (“in addition”) + crēscō (“to grow”). Compare accrete.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

accrue in the wild

  • Likewise, the term accrued expense refers to liabilities that are recognized when a company receives services or goods, even though the company has not yet paid the provider.

    Accrual

  • On the other hand, an accrued expense is recognised as an expense on the income statement and represented as a liability on the balance sheet.

    Accrual

  • Savings accounts normally pay interest as well: almost all of them accrue compound interest over time.

    Savings account

  • The poles accrue infinite distortion, becoming lines instead of points.

    Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection

  • Such benefits accrue to all living organisms, including animals and plants, rather than to humans alone.

    Ecological goods and services

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the crēscō family

increasecereal

accrue — used about once every 41,009 pages · #14,077 · point at the bar for the others