/ɪnˈkɜːr/
[verb] To bring something unpleasant, such as a cost, debt, or punishment, upon yourself as a result of your own actions. It usually describes negative consequences that happen because of a choice you made.
'Incur' literally means 'to run into' something — as if trouble were a wall you sprinted straight toward.
The word 'incur' comes from the Latin verb 'incurrere', which was built from two parts: the prefix 'in-', meaning 'into' or 'toward', and 'currere', meaning 'to run'. So at its heart, 'incurrere' meant 'to run into' or 'to rush toward' something. The image is vivid and almost physical — not passively receiving a consequence, but actively colliding with it through your own movement.
In classical Latin, 'incurrere' was used in several senses. It could mean to make a raid or military incursion into enemy territory, to fall into a trap, or to encounter something by chance. The common thread was always motion — something moving forward and meeting something else as a result. Roman writers used it both literally, for soldiers charging into battle, and figuratively, for people who stumbled into disgrace or legal trouble through their own behaviour.
The word entered English in the 15th century, likely borrowed directly from Latin or through the influence of learned, legal, and ecclesiastical writing of the period. Medieval scholars and lawyers in England worked extensively with Latin texts, and 'incur' carried the precise, formal weight that legal language demands. Early English uses focused on incurring penalties, debts, and divine punishment — consequences that arrived because of a person's own actions or failures.
The root 'currere' — 'to run' — is remarkably productive in English. Latin 'currere' gave us the past participle 'cursus', meaning 'a running' or 'a course', which flowed into Old French as 'cours' and then into English as 'course'. The same root produced Latin 'cursor' ('one who runs') → English 'cursor', and Latin 'concurrere' ('to run together') → Old French 'concourir' → English 'concur'. Even 'current', describing something that flows or runs continuously, traces back to 'currere' through Latin 'currens'.
Over time, 'incur' narrowed its meaning in English. While Latin 'incurrere' could describe physical raids or accidental encounters, English 'incur' settled almost exclusively into the territory of consequences — financial, legal, or emotional. Today it almost always appears with words like 'debt', 'costs', 'risk', 'penalty', or 'wrath'. The original sense of running or rushing has faded completely, leaving only the collision at the end of the sprint — the moment you meet the thing you brought upon yourself.