early 15c., "income from property or possessions," from Old French revenue "a return," noun use of fem. past participle of revenir "come back" (10c.), from Latin revenire "return, come back," from re- "back" (see re-) + venire "to come" (from a suffixed form of PIE root *gwa- "to go, come").

The meaning "public income, annual income of a government or state" is recorded from 1680s; revenue sharing was popularized from 1971, the Nixon Administration's policy of returning power to state and local governments by steering federal taxpayer money to them. Revenuer "U.S. Department of Revenue agent," the bane of Appalachian moonshiners, is attested by 1880.

"one who returns," especially after a long absence; "a ghost, one who returns from the dead," 1814 (in "Rosanne" by Laetitia Matilda Hawkins), from French revenant (fem. revenante), noun use of present participle of revenir "to return" (see revenue).

*gwā-, also *gwem-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to go, come."

It forms all or part of: acrobat; adiabatic; advent; adventitious; adventure; amphisbaena; anabasis; avenue; base (n.) "bottom of anything;" basis; become; circumvent; come; contravene; convene; convenient; convent; conventicle; convention; coven; covenant; diabetes; ecbatic; event; eventual; hyperbaton; hypnobate; intervene; intervenient; intervention; invent; invention; inventory; juggernaut; katabatic; misadventure; parvenu; prevenient; prevent; provenance; provenience; revenant; revenue; souvenir; subvention; supervene; venire; venue; welcome.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit gamati "he goes," Avestan jamaiti "goes," Tocharian kakmu "come," Lithuanian gemu, gimti "to be born," Greek bainein "to go, walk, step," Latin venire "to come," Old English cuman "come, approach," German kommen, Gothic qiman.

also I.R.S., initialism (acronym) of Internal Revenue Service, U.S. federal government tax collection agency, attested by 1954. The office dates to 1862; name changed 1953 from Bureau of Internal Revenue.

late 12c., "tax-gatherer for the Roman government," from Old French publician (12c.) and directly from Latin publicanus "a tax collector," noun use of an adjective, "pertaining to public revenue," from publicum "public revenue," noun use of neuter of publicus (see public (adj.)). This original sense is that in Matthew xviii.17, Luke xviii.10-14, etc.

The word that means "keeper of a pub" is recorded by 1728, from public (house), for which see pub, + -an.

also nonprofit, of organization or institutions, "dedicated to a particular social cause or interest and using surplus revenue to further that purpose," 1922, from non- + profit (n.). As a noun, "a non-profit organization," by 1953.

late 12c. as a surname, "one who cuts" in any sense, "one who shapes or forms by cutting," agent noun from cut (v.). From 1630s as "instrument or tool for cutting."

As a type of small, single-masted vessel, from 1762, earlier "double-banked boat belonging to a ship of war" (1745); perhaps so called from the notion of moving quickly, or of "cutting" through the water.

Revenue cutter, a light-armed government vessel commissioned for the prevention of smuggling and the enforcement of the customs regulations. Formerly the vessels for the protection of the United States revenue were cutter-rigged, but now the name is applied indiscriminately, although almost all the revenue vessels are steamers, and the few remaining sailing vessels are schooner-rigged. [Century Dictionary, 1889]

c. 1300, "a chessboard, checkerboard," from Anglo-French escheker "a chessboard," from Old French eschequier, from Medieval Latin scaccarium "chess board" (see check (n.1); also see checker (n.2)). The governmental sense of "department of the royal household concerned with the receipt, custody, and disbursement of revenue and with judicial determination of certain causes affecting crown revenues"  began under the Norman kings of England and refers to a cloth divided in squares that covered a table on which accounts of revenue were reckoned by using counters, and which reminded people of a chess board. Respelled with an -x- based on the mistaken belief that it originally was a Latin ex- word.

also pay-load, by 1914, from pay + load (n.). Originally the part of a truck's (later an aircraft's) load from which revenue is derived (passengers, cargo, mail); figurative sense of "bombs, etc. carried by a plane or missile" is from 1936.

c. 1300, "a church living, church office endowed with a revenue," from Old French benefice (13c.) and directly from Latin beneficium "a favor, service, generosity, kindness, benefit," from beneficus "generous, kind, benevolent, obliging," from bene- "good, well" (see bene-) + -ficium "a doing," from -ficere, combining form of facere "to do, to make" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put").