hypothecate
Jun. 19th, 2026 08:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordhypothecate (hai-POTH-i-kayt) - v., to pledge (property) as security or collateral without delivery of title or possession, mortgage.
Contrast with pawn, in which possession is transferred for the duration of the loan, and also car loans. There's additional financial definitions used in the UK and Australia, related to revenue dedicated by special taxes. Also sometimes incorrectly used as a synonym of hypothesize (usage experts almost universally disapprove). Taken around 1680 from Medieval Latin hypothēcāre, from Latin hypothēca, pledge/deposit, from Ancient Greek hupothēkē, from hupotithenai, to give as a pledge as well as to suppose -- which means at the root, it was the same word as hypothesize as well as to pawn. Wild.
---L.
Contrast with pawn, in which possession is transferred for the duration of the loan, and also car loans. There's additional financial definitions used in the UK and Australia, related to revenue dedicated by special taxes. Also sometimes incorrectly used as a synonym of hypothesize (usage experts almost universally disapprove). Taken around 1680 from Medieval Latin hypothēcāre, from Latin hypothēca, pledge/deposit, from Ancient Greek hupothēkē, from hupotithenai, to give as a pledge as well as to suppose -- which means at the root, it was the same word as hypothesize as well as to pawn. Wild.
---L.
