noun
allowance
An amount of money or another resource regularly given or permitted.
Where it comes from
Allowance ordinarily means an amount of money or another resource regularly given or permitted. Allowance came through Anglo-French from verbs meaning to allot, place, accept as valid, approve, or praise. In English, the histories of allotting and approving merged in the word allow and its noun allowance. A share could be entered as valid in an account and granted to someone; from that came money regularly provided for expenses.
How the meaning developed
Making allowance for a circumstance likewise began as adjusting an account by adding or deducting an appropriate amount before becoming a metaphor for charitable judgment.
Sources
Definitions adapted from Open English WordNet where applicable. License and attribution. Word-history text comes from Lexifour’s sourced social research; pages are assembled automatically, not individually fact-checked on every update.
Updated 2026-10-05. Report a correction.