The word bankrupt has an interesting origin rooted in Italian and Latin.

It comes from the Italian phrase “banca rotta,” which translates to “broken bench” (or “broken bank”). In medieval Italy, moneylenders and merchants conducted business from benches, particularly in marketplaces. If a merchant could no longer meet their financial obligations, their bench was literally broken as a public signal that they could no longer do business.

“Banca” means “bench” in Italian.

“Rotta” comes from the Latin “rupta,” meaning “broken.”

So, the term bankrupt originally symbolized the physical destruction of a merchant’s bench, marking their inability to continue trading due to financial failure.