What does accrue mean?
"Accrue" is a formal verb describing the way money, interest, rights, or benefits accumulate steadily over time. When interest accrues on a loan or savings account, it is added period by period, growing the total without any single dramatic transaction. The word also carries a broader figurative sense: advantages or obligations may accrue to a person, company, or group as a consequence of position or action, as when experience accrues with years of practice. It is especially at home in finance, law, and accounting, where precise distinctions matter — accountants, for example, "accrue" revenues and expenses in the periods they are actually earned or incurred rather than when cash moves. Grammatically, "accrue" is usually intransitive: things accrue, or they accrue to someone. Its noun form, "accrual," names the amount accumulated or the practice of recording such amounts. Because it suggests quiet, continuous growth — for better or worse — "accrue" is the standard word whenever something builds gradually on its own.
verbTo accumulate or be received periodically over time, especially money, interest, or benefits; to grow by gradual addition.
- (of money, interest, or benefits) to accumulate or be received gradually over a period of time, often without active effort
- (formal) to come as an advantage, right, or benefit to someone — used with "to" (e.g. advantages that accrue to early investors)
- (accounting) to record revenue or expenses in the period in which they are earned or incurred, rather than when cash changes hands
"Interest continues to accrue on the outstanding balance until it is paid in full."
"Savings bonds earn little at first, but the interest accrues steadily over decades."
"The company recognized revenue in the quarter in which services were delivered, accruing income before any payment arrived."
Every credit card statement you've ever ignored has been quietly using this word against you — accrued interest never sleeps.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of accrue
"Accrue" comes from Old French "acreue," the feminine past participle of "accreistre" meaning "to grow," which itself derives from Latin "accrescere" — formed from "ad-" (toward) plus "crescere" (to grow). English adopted the word in the late Middle Ages, initially meaning simply "to grow" or "arise," before narrowing toward its modern financial senses. It shares the Latin root "crescere" with words such as "increase," "crescendo," and "recruit."
Related word forms
How accrue is actually used
"Accrue" is largely formal and appears most often in financial, legal, and accounting contexts. It is typically intransitive: things accrue, rather than someone accruing them, though passive constructions like "accrued interest" are extremely common. The sense "to fall to someone's advantage" always takes "to" (benefits accrue to someone). In everyday speech, "build up" or "pile up" are more natural substitutes.
Easily confused with accrue
"Accrete" means to grow by external addition of layers or particles (as in geology or astronomy), while "accrue" refers to periodic accumulation, typically of financial amounts or benefits.