Words · Rare
tontine
7 letters · 5 distinct letters
- noun
a form of life insurance whereby on the death or default of a participant their share is distributed to the remaining members
- noun
an annuity scheme wherein participants share certain benefits and on the death of any participant their benefits are redistributed among the remaining participants; can run for a fixed period of time or until the death of all but one participant
Word history
From French tontine, named after Lorenzo de Tonti, who introduced the scheme into France in around 1653. Thus, from Tonti + ine.
From Wiktionary, under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0
Why this word counts
- Where it comes from
- Listed in the English Speller Database at size 70: the largest list we accept, where the rarer words live.
- How common it is
- Rarer than once in ten million words.
- In the spelling bee
- Bonus word Words found only in the largest list score as bonus words rather than daily answers.