English → Latin
“expense” in Latin
impēnsaexpense, outlay, costimpendiumexpense, expenditure, payment; costiaciōto throw, hurl, cast, fling; throw away; to lay, set, establish, build, found, construct, erect; to send forth, emit; brarbitriumthe decision of an arbiter, arbitration; judgement, decision, opinion; discretion, liberal decision; arbitrary decision,tabulatablet, sometimes a tablet covered with wax for writing; board or plank; map, painting, document or other item put onto
The English word expense itself goes back to Latin pendō, through expēnsa.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
expense
sumtus (both as expenditure and as sum expended; considered as diminishing wealth and capital; similar to our “expense,” and like this sometimes with the idea of excess and squandering; ☞ Liv., 1, 20; unde in eos sumtus pecunia erogaretur): impensa (disbursement; the outlay of money, etc., which is made or which it is necessary to make; ☞ Liv., 44, 23, in: quia impensa pecuniae facienda erat): impendium (mostly plur.; once only in Cic.; charges, expenses which arise, are occasioned, in Liv., 7, 21, opposed to jactura, i. e., a sacrifice which one makes; hence, also, impendio alicujus = to the detriment, prejudice of any one): jacturae (expenses of a magistrate who spends his money to gain the favor of the people). (The words are found in this connection and order.) sumtus jacturaeque. ☞ Both sumtus and impensa or impendium are used also in the plur., if great and various expenses are spoken of: arbitria, orum, plur., (dues which must be paid on any solemn act to the persons assisting at it; e.g., at a funeral, funeris). Immense expenses, sumtus infiniti. ☞ Not expensa, expensae; but expensa pecunia (outlay) is correct. Household expenses, sumtus domesticus. A book of receipts and expenses, tabulae or codex accepti et impensi: necessary expenses, sumtus necessarii: to lessen or curtail expenses, sumtus minuere, remittere, circumcidere: to limit one’s expenses, modum facere sumtibus: to avoid unnecessary expenses, sumtus supervacaneos vitare (Sen.): the public expenses, impensae publicae: at the expense of anybody, sumtu alicujus; de pecunia alicujus; alicujus impensis; alicujus impendio; cum damno alicujus (to the loss of anybody): at one’s own expense, privato sumtu; impendio privato (at one’s own charge); sua pecunia (from one’s own money); de suo (from one’s own); ex sua re familiari (e.g., muros reficere, Nep.): at the public expense, publico sumtu; de publico; publice (so that the state bears the expense); impensa publica (so that the state furnishes the money); impendio publico (so that charges are occasioned to the state): at a great expense, magna impensa: without expense, nulla impensa, nullo sumto: with no expense to you, sine sumtu tuo: to live at anybody’s expense, alicujus impensis ali (after Nep., Phoc., 1, 4): to endeavor to enrich one’s self at the expense of others, incommodo aliorum suum commodum augere: at the expense (to the detriment) of health, cum damno valetudinis: he saves money at the expense of his health, tam parcus et continens est, ut necessitates valetudinis restringat frugalitate: a thing is too dear, if procured at the expense of honesty, nimium est alicujus rei pretium, si probitatis impendio constat (Vid: Quint., 6, 3, 35): at the expense of another’s good name, sub aliena invidia (☞ Liv., 24, 25, 2): to be at expense, sumtum or sumtus facere: to occasion expense (of a thing), impendia facere (e.g., of a state; Vid: Plin., Ep., 10, 57 (52) in.): to occasion expense to anybody, sumtum alicui afferre, sumtui alicui esse (of persons and things): not to be the least expense to anybody, alicui ne minimo quidem sumtui esse: to be at expense (about anything), sumtum or impensam, or impensam et sumtum facere in rem; sumtum impendere or insumere in rem; sumtum ponere in re: to bestow expense and trouble upon anything, sumtum et laborem insumere in rem (after Cic., De Invent., 2, 38, 113); laborem et sumtum impendere in rem: to bestow trouble and expense upon anything in vain, operam et oleum perdere (proverbially): to bear the expense, sumtus sufferre, pati, tolerare (Terentianus): to bear or meet the expense from any source, impensas tolerare ab aliqua re (Vid: Plin., 12, 14, 32, unde impensae publicae tolerantur): to repay the expenses of anything, quod impensae in aliquid factum est praestare (☞ impensas restituere is not Latin): to spare neither expense nor trouble, nec impensae nec labori parcere: spare no expense, sumtui ne parcas; argento parci nolo: to spare no expense in procuring or in the purchase of anything, aliquid animosissime comparare (Suet., Caes., 47): animosiorem alicujus rei emptorem esse (Javolenus, Dig., 17, 1, 36, § 1): that spares no expense, animosus (e.g., corruptor, Tac., Hist., 1, 24, 2; emptor, Javolenus, Dig., 17, 1, 36, § 1): to charge expenses to the account of anybody, sumtum alicui inferre: to cover the expenses, quod impensae factum est in rem, efficere (e.g., of an estate bringing back what has been spent upon it; after Liv., 2, 18): aliquid sarcit or resarcit sumtum suum (after Ter., Heaut., 1, 1, 91, Ruhnken); omnem impensam alicujus rei pretio suo liberare (Col., 3, 3). I do not cover my expenses (e.g., in the management of an estate, etc.), impendia exsuperant reditum. These expenses eat up all the profit, in hos sumtus abeunt fructus praediorum.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for expense?
- The usual Latin words for “expense” are impēnsa, impendium, iaciō; also arbitrium, tabula. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.