What does cheque mean?
A cheque is a printed form instructing a bank to pay a specific sum of money from one account to a named recipient. The person writing it is called the drawer, the bank is the drawee, and the recipient is the payee. Cheques have been a staple of personal and commercial finance since the seventeenth century, offering a traceable, legally recognised alternative to cash. Common phrases include 'write a cheque', 'cash a cheque', and the figurative 'a blank cheque', meaning unrestricted freedom or authority. A bounced or dishonoured cheque is one the bank refuses to pay, typically due to insufficient funds. Spelled 'cheque' in British, Irish, Australian, and Indian English, the same document is a 'check' in American English — a spelling split that dates back to the nineteenth century. Though increasingly displaced by card and electronic payments, the cheque remains a widely understood symbol of formal, documented payment throughout the English-speaking world outside North America.
nounA printed form on which a person writes an order to their bank to pay a stated sum of money from their account to the named payee. In American English, the same instrument is spelled 'check'.
- A written order to a bank to pay a specified sum from the drawer's account to the payee.
"She wrote a cheque for two hundred pounds and posted it to the charity."
"He tore up the cheque when he realised he'd been overcharged."
"Payment may be made by cheque, payable to OneWord Daily Ltd."
Regular plural. American English uses 'checks'.
"She deposited several cheques at the branch before closing time."
Every time you write a cheque, you're using a word born on the chessboard — it descends from the Persian 'shah', the king that must be checked before any move is trusted.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cheque
The word 'cheque' derives ultimately from the Arabic 'šah' via Persian, entering English through Old French as 'esches' or 'echec', related to 'check' as used in chess ('check' = the king's position). Its financial sense arose in seventeenth-century England, where bankers used counterfoils or 'checks' to verify transactions, and by the eighteenth century the noun referred to the bank order itself. The spelling 'cheque' emerged in the nineteenth century under French influence, distinguishing the financial instrument from the broader verb 'to check'; American English retained the single spelling 'check' for all senses.
How cheque is actually used
Standard in British, Irish, Australian, Indian, and other Commonwealth English; American English uses 'check' for this sense. Increasingly associated with older or formal financial practice as electronic payments displace paper instruments.
Easily confused with cheque
'Check' is the American spelling of the banking instrument, but it also means to examine or restrain, whereas 'cheque' is used exclusively for the financial document in British English.
'Chequer' refers to a pattern of alternating squares or the game of draughts in British English, not a payment instrument.