audit
Definitions
An official, systematic examination of accounts or records to check accuracy
审计，查账（对账目或记录的正式系统性核查）
A thorough review or inspection of something (e.g. a process, system, or content)
审查，评估（对流程、系统或内容的彻底检查）
To officially examine and verify accounts or records
审计，查核（正式审查并核实账目或记录）
To attend a course as a listener, without taking it for credit
旁听（作为听众听课，不修学分）
Root Breakdown
Root-derivedStraight from Latin auditus, 'heard.' In medieval bookkeeping, few could read, so accounts were verified by ear: a clerk read the figures aloud while an official heard them and checked for fraud. 'A hearing of the accounts' became an audit. The listening faded but the suspicion stayed — today auditing is careful examination. The 'attend as a listener' sense (audit a class) keeps the original ear meaning alive: you only listen, you don't take the exam.
Root audit still carries 7 more wordsWhy It Means This
Audit is the family's strangest member because nothing about modern auditing involves listening. The link is historical: before widespread literacy, financial records were read aloud and 'heard' by an official who checked them — so the examination itself was called a hearing, an auditus. The word kept the rigor and the wariness of that process while shedding the sound. The classroom sense (to audit a lecture) is the one place the literal 'just listening' meaning still shows through.
Usage Guide
- Finance/accounting (core): financial audit, tax audit, statutory audit — a formal, often legally required examination.
- Extended technical use: security audit, content audit, energy audit, SEO audit — a thorough systematic review.
- Academic (AmE especially): 'audit a course' = sit in without credit or grades. This sense is uncommon in BrE.
- Verb and noun share the same spelling; stress is the same (AU-dit) in both.
Example Sentences
- 1.
The company hired an outside firm to audit its accounts.
- 2.
Last year's tax audit found several reporting errors.
- 3.
We ran a full security audit before the product launch.
- 4.
She decided to audit the philosophy course just for interest.