Exchequer

[eks-chek-er, iks-chek-er] /ˈɛks tʃɛk ər, ɪksˈtʃɛk ər/

noun
1.
a treasury, as of a state or nation.
2.

3.
Informal. one’s financial resources; funds:
I’d love to go, but the exchequer is a bit low.
/ɪksˈtʃɛkə/
noun
1.
(often capital) (government) (in Britain and certain other countries) the accounting department of the Treasury, responsible for receiving and issuing funds
2.
(informal) personal funds; finances
/ɪksˈtʃɛkə/
noun
1.
See Court of Exchequer
n.

c.1300, from Anglo-French escheker “a chessboard,” from Old French eschequier, from Medieval Latin scaccarium “chess board” (see check (n.1); also cf. checker (n.2)).

Government financial sense began under the Norman kings of England and refers to a cloth divided in squares that covered a table on which accounts of revenue were reckoned with counters, and which apparently reminded people of a chess board. Respelled with an -x- based on the mistaken belief that it originally was a Latin ex- word.