compound interest
noun
Simple meaning
Interest calculated on both the principal and the accrued interest.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahmpowndintruhstSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɑmpaʊnˈdɪntɹəst
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
bankingfinance
Interest calculated on both the principal and the accrued interest
bankingfinance
Interest, as on a loan or a bank account, that is calculated on the total on the principal plus accumulated unpaid interest.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Interest calculated on both the principal and the accrued interest
Used this way, compound interest is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a financial use: it has a settled meaning in accounting and business, where precision matters more than colour.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Finance/economics
- Business/professional
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.