Meaning

noun the state of owing something (especially money)

noun money or goods or services owed by one person to another

noun an obligation to pay or do something

originFrom Middle English dette, dett, borrowed from Old French dete (French dette), from Medieval Latin dēbita, from Latin dēbitum (“what is owed, a debt, a duty”), neuter of dēbitus, perfect passive participle of dēbeō (“to owe”), contraction of *dehibeō (“I have from”), from de (“from”) + habeō (“to have”). Doublet of debit. Displaced native Old English eofot. The unpronounced "b" in the modern…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0