receipt
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 21, 2021 is: receipt \rih-SEET\ noun 1 a : a writing acknowledging the receiving of goods or money b receipts, plural, informal : [proof](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proof#h1), [evidence](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/evidence) 2 : the act or process of [receiving](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/receiving) 3 : something received — usually used in plural 4 : [recipe](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recipe) Examples: If you find that the item has been damaged during shipping, please contact us upon receipt to request a return shipping label. "A perplexed correspondent asked Emily Post why it was that she used the word 'receipt' instead of 'recipe' in discussing cookery. Mrs. Post replied that 'receipt' is a word of fashionable descent, used in this sense, so she preferred it to the more commercial 'recipe.'" — J. N. Cornelius, The Birmingham (Alabama) News, 30 July 1937 Did you know? These days it may seem odd to speak of "grandma's cookie receipt," but in the past, receipt was a synonym of [recipe](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recipe). Early use of receipt refers to medicinal preparations. Recipe didn't arrive until the 1500s, and it too was first used to describe a formula for medicine. In time, both words gained use in cookery, after which recipe slowly became the preferred word. Receipt later acquired its more familiar sense of "a writing acknowledging the receiving of goods or money." Both words, receipt and recipe, ultimately derive from Latin recipere ("to receive").