Bank

From Old English banc (“bank, hillock, embankment”), from Proto-Germanic *bankô.

Bank

1. A village in the New Forest in Hampshire, England.
2. (rail transport) A major London Underground station in the City of London, named after the Bank of England and one of the busiest stations on the network (OS grid ref TQ3281)
   • 2019 October 23, Paul Stephen delivers a progress report on London Underground's transformative Bank Station capacity upgrade, Rail, page 68:

     Anybody familiar with the London Underground network will know that Bank Tube station is a place to be avoided - if at all possible - on a weekday morning. Located at the very heart of London's 'Square Mile' financial district, some 70,000 people detrain there during the morning peak, to pass through its gatelines and those at the adjoining station at Monument. A further 50,000 passengers squeeze into the station complex at exactly the same time of day, in order to change between the five lines that pass through it.

Various origins:

• Borrowed from Dutch and German Bank (“bench”), a metonymic occupational surname for someone who worked with a bench or counter, like a money changer.
• Borrowed from Danish and Swedish Bank, a topographic surname from bank (“sandbank”) or, alternatively, a nickname for a loud an noisy person, from bank (“noise”).

Bank (plural Banks)

1. A surname.

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Bank is the 12953^rd most common surname in the United States, belonging to 2371 individuals. Bank is most common among White (80.05%) and Black/African American (10.04%) individuals.

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Bank”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 1, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 95.

• Knab, knab, nabk

• IPA^(key): /baŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aŋk

From Middle High German and Old High German banc, bank (“height”), from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz. Related to Old Saxon bank.

Bank f (genitive Bank, plural Bänke, diminutive Bänkchen n)

1. bench (which people sit on); pew
2. workbench (which things can be set down on)
3. bank (collection of material in a body of water)
4. (soccer) substitutes' bench

• auf die lange Bank schieben (“to procrastinate, to shelve”)
• Bänkelsänger (“minstrel”)

• → Danish: bank
• → Norwegian Bokmål: bank

15th century, semantically after Italian banco, banca (“bench” and “bank”), from Old High German bank (etymology 1 above). The Italianized form Banco is attested in German texts alongside native Bank, Bänke. Since the 18th century, a third form Banque, Banquen arises under influence of French banque, itself from the Italian. This then leads to the contemporary situation with identical singulars but distinct plural forms.

Bank f (genitive Bank, plural Banken)

1. bank (financial institution)
2. (in compounds) a storage facility for some specified purpose

Some descendants may be via other European languages.

• “Bank” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Bank” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Bank (Geldinstitut, Gebäude)” in Duden online
• “Bank (Sitzgelegenheit)” in Duden online
• Bank on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de

From German Bank and French banque, both via Italian banco, banca from Old High German bank (“bench”). Doublet of Bänk.

• IPA^(key): [bɑŋk]
• Rhymes: -ɑŋk

Bank f (plural Banken)

1. bank (financial institution)

From Middle High German bank, from Old High German bank. Compare German Bank, Dutch bank, English bench.

Bank f (plural Benk)

1. bench
2. workbench

Ultimately from Italian banco, itself from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz (“bulge; bench”).

• IPA^(key): /baŋk/

Bank f (plural Banken)

1. bank