Basic Details
Word: Transaction
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: An act of buying, selling, paying or exchanging something, especially money; a piece of business between people.
Synonyms: deal, exchange, purchase
Word origin: From Latin transactio, from transigere, to drive through or settle.
How to Spell Transaction
Syllables: trans - ac - tion
Tricky part: The s in trans sounds like z here, so some write tranzaction. The ending is -tion, not -sion or -shun.
Watch out for: tranzaction, transacsion, transactoin
Memory tip: Trans (across) + action: money moves across from one person to another in a single action.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Every transaction at the canteen is now paid by scanning a QR code.
Example 2: The bank sends Mummy a message after each transaction on her card.
Example 3: Buying our first car was a long transaction full of forms and signatures.
Fun Fact
Some of the oldest known writing, on clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia, is simply records of transactions such as grain and sheep.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The cashier at the post office checked the tranzaction twice because the amount on the receipt did not match the figure in her ledger.
a) cashier
b) receipt
c) tranzaction
d) ledger
Show answer
c) tranzaction. Trans is the same prefix as in transport and transfer; it keeps its s even when it sounds like z.
Word Connection
Choose the word closest in meaning to transaction as used in the sentence:
The sale of the old flat was the biggest transaction the family had ever made.
a) delay
b) dispute
c) discount
d) deal
Show answer
d) deal. Selling a flat is a deal; a delay, a dispute or a discount is only one part of it, or something that goes wrong.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Every niostcaatnr on the card appears in the monthly statement.
a) transportation
b) transition
c) transaction
d) translation
Show answer
c) transaction. Translation and transportation would need an l or a p, and transition needs a second i. That leaves transaction.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. In a shop, a transaction takes place when ____.
a) the shutter is pulled down
b) a customer pays and gets the goods
c) the shelves are dusted
d) the owner reads the paper
Show answer
b) a customer pays and gets the goods
2. The prefix trans- in transaction means ____.
a) against
b) before
c) across
d) under
Show answer
c) across
