personal check
9
2.8
- noun
- /ˈpɜrsənl tʃɛk/
- US
:
cheque personal
- To pay for her new laptop, she decided to write a personal check from her account.
- write a personal check
- send a personal check
- accept a personal check
Has anybody here written a personal check in the last week?
- Has anybody here written a personal check in the last week?
Examples
-
Send a personal check along with your letter, and I'll make sure you get reimbursed.
Fiction book (1992) -
What, you won't take a personal check?
-
Has anybody here written a personal check in the last week?
-
And will you take a personal check?
-
Please accept this personal check of mine.
-
What are we supposed to do, take a personal check?
-
It's a good thing it was my personal check.
-
You want a personal check?
-
Personal checks have to clear before they are active.
Blog text (8) -
You take personal checks?
Synonyms
1
2.8
A written note telling a bank to pay a certain amount of money to a person or company
How Secure
- Specialized
12
4.6
- Specialized
3
4.2
- US
14
2.8
- US
9
2.8
6
7.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'personal' (belonging to an individual) modifies 'check' (a bank payment instrument), so a learner who knows both words can infer it is a cheque written by a private person rather than a business or bank. This modifier+noun pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows normal English semantics, making the expression immediately understandable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Personal check comes from the simple idea of a check, a written order to a bank, that is paid from a person's own money, so it is personal. So, a personal check today means a 'paper payment' written by someone from their own bank account.