What does receipt mean?
A receipt is proof that something has been received, especially that payment has been made or goods have been handed over. It may be a paper or electronic document showing the items purchased, the amount paid, and sometimes the date and business involved. In formal and business contexts, “receipt” can also mean the act of receiving something, as in “upon receipt of your application,” or refer collectively to money received by an organization. The word is therefore broader than a simple record of payment: it connects both the evidence of a transaction and the process of taking delivery or receiving funds. A receipt is useful because it supports returns, exchanges, accounting, and accountability. Although it shares a spelling pattern with “recipe,” the two words have distinct meanings and ultimately share a Latin root meaning “to take” or “receive.”
A written or electronic acknowledgment that payment has been made or that goods have been received; more broadly, the fact or amount of something received.
"She handed over a receipt for the groceries."
The phrase “receipt of” is common in formal and commercial contexts for the act of receiving something.
To give or issue a receipt for something, or to acknowledge that something has been received.
"The clerk receipted the parcel before placing it on the shelf."
Rare and chiefly archival or formal; modern speakers usually use “receive” or “acknowledge receipt of.”
The plural is standard for multiple acknowledgment documents and, in business contexts, for the total money received.
"The shop records daily receipts and issues each customer a receipt."
The receipt and the recipe are cousins: both descend from Latin recipere, meaning “to take” or “receive.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does receipt come from?
The word entered English through Old French receipt, from Latin recepta, the feminine past participle of recipere, meaning “to take” or “receive.” Its early sense included something received, then developed into the modern meanings connected with acknowledgment, payment, and delivery. The same Latin root produced cognates such as receive, reception, and receptacle, and also lies behind recipe in its older sense of something prescribed or prepared.
Related word forms
How receipt is actually used
In business and formal English, “receipt of” commonly means the arrival or receiving of something: “We will respond upon receipt of your order.” As a plural noun, “receipts” can mean the money taken in by a business or organization.
Easily confused with receipt
A receipt records that payment or delivery has taken place, while a recipe gives instructions for preparing food or another product.