- expense
- late 14c., from Anglo-Fr. expense, O.Fr. espense "money provided for expenses," from L.L. expensa "disbursement, outlay, expense," prop. neut. pl. pp. of L. expendere "to weigh out money, to pay down" (see expend). Related: Expenses. Latin spensa also yielded M.L. spe(n)sa, whose sense specialized to "outlay for provisions," then "provisions, food," which was borrowed into O.H.G. as spisa and is the root of Ger. Speise "food," now mostly meaning prepared food, and speisen "to eat."