debited

Debited is the past tense of debit and refers to recording a debit entry in an account or, in everyday terms, subtracting funds from a balance. In double-entry bookkeeping, each debit has a corresponding credit, and the two sides of a transaction must balance.

In double-entry accounting, debit entries increase asset and expense accounts and decrease liability, equity, and revenue accounts. Conversely, credits increase liability, equity, and revenue and decrease assets and expenses. The normal balance of asset and expense accounts is a debit, while liabilities, equity, and revenue normally carry a credit balance. For example, when a company pays an expense with cash, the expense is debited and the cash account is credited.

In banking and consumer finance, a debit transaction reduces the balance of the account it is drawn from, such as a checking or savings account. A debit card payment or cash withdrawal debits the cardholder’s account. Debited is often used in contrast with credited, or with deposits, which credit an account’s balance. In everyday language, debit and charge are sometimes used interchangeably for card transactions, but in formal accounting they refer to specific sides of the ledger.