Check began on the chessboard. In Persian, shah means "king," and a player threatening the opponent's king would call out "shah!" — the king is in danger! This passed through Arabic into Old French eschec and then English check. From "the king is in danger → to restrain" the meaning widened to "to verify, to inspect a state of affairs." The financial check (or cheque) comes from here too, by way of the exchequer — the checkered cloth on which medieval treasurers reconciled their accounts. Checkmate comes from the Persian shah mat ("the king is dead"). Checkered patterns, check-in, double-check — every one of these meanings branched out from a single Persian word.