A document that tells how much money you owe someone is a debenture. If you borrow ten dollars from the neighbor kid's lemonade stand earnings, you'd better at least leave him a debenture.
Debenture, pronounced "deh-BEN-chur," looks and sounds like its Latin root, debentur, which means "there are due." A debenture is a receipt or certificate that acknowledges a debt, which you give someone who loans you money. Debenture is also your ability to use credit to get things now that you promise to pay for later.
