IOU
I owe youI owe you.
US/ˌaɪˌoʊjˈu/
Meaning
1 sensesI owe you.
Customarily, if you borrow $10 for lunch from a coworker, writing IOU $10 on a yellow sticky note acts as a legal promissory note that you will repay said amount on payday.
Origin
From the pronunciation of "I owe you". Attested since at least 1618.From the pronunciation of "I owe you". Attested since at least 1618.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.