Link Centre Dictionary

tontine

ton·tine

UK/tɒnˈtiːn/ US/ˈtɒnˌtiːn/ uncommon

noun

1.

a form of life insurance whereby on the death or default of a participant his share is distributed to the remaining members

Synonyms
2.

an annuity scheme wherein participants share certain benefits and on the death of any participant his benefits are redistributed among the remaining participants; can run for a fixed period of time or until the death of all but one participant

Origin

From French tontine, named after Lorenzo de Tonti, who introduced the scheme into France in around 1653. Thus, from Tonti + -ine.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.