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credit card

credit card

711 1.0
A small plastic card from a bank that lets you buy things now and pay later
  • noun
  • /ˈkrɛdɪt kɑrd/
translation icon : tarjeta de crédito
  • I used my credit card to buy a new laptop online.
  • credit card debt
  • credit card numbers
  • credit card bill

No no. No credit cards, no delivery system.

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Examples

  • Half of the respondents admit to not paying off their credit cards in full each month.

    Academic text (2002)
  • Hey, hey, can we put the charge on your credit card? - Yeah.

  • May or may not have left my credit card somewhere tonight.

  • One of the girls finally used a credit card.

  • I have a credit card.

  • Are you carrying a credit card balance month after month?

  • For instance, 55 percent of parents roll over credit card debt each month.

    Academic text (2002)
  • If you don't have a credit card yet, get a credit card.

  • The next day he realizes that his credit card was stolen.

  • Yes, I'm calling because my credit card has been compromised.

Synonyms

card
vscredit card
1.0

A small rectangular piece of plastic or cardboard for showing identity and for paying

is a financial payment instrument that allows delayed repayment and interest charges
plastic
vscredit card
  • Informal
107 2.3

A card from a bank people use to pay instead of cash

is a formal banking tool for buying now and repaying later with interest
bank card
vscredit card
8 1.4

A plastic card from a bank used to pay without cash and get money from cash machines

is an issuer provided payment tool that lets buyers delay payment and incur interest
charge card
vscredit card
4 3.2

A card that lets you buy things and must be paid in full each month

allows carried balances and interest rather than requiring full payment monthly

How Premium

platinum
  • Specialized
96 4.2
gold
330 1.0
credit card
711 1.0
basic
144 1.0

Surface Forms

credit card singular
credit cards plural

Morphology

credit + card

The compound 'credit card' is fully compositional: 'credit' (a financial lending/charge facility) combined with 'card' (a small payment/ID item) straightforwardly yields a card used to make purchases on credit. This noun+noun construction and its logic are cross-linguistically common (e.g., Spanish 'tarjeta de crédito'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Credit card comes from the simple idea that credit means trust that you will pay later, and a card is a small piece of metal or plastic that showed that trust. So a credit card is a small card that lets you 'buy now and pay later'.