'bankroll' originates from English, formed as a compound of 'bank' (originally from Italian 'banca' via Old French, meaning a bench where moneylenders worked) and 'roll' (meaning a roll of notes or money).

'bankroll' appeared in late 19th-century English as the hyphenated form 'bank-roll' referring to a roll or sum of banknotes and later generalized to mean a supply of funds; the form contracted to the single word 'bankroll' in modern English.

Initially it referred specifically to a roll of banknotes or a sum held at a bank; over time it broadened to mean general capital or funds for financing and acquired the verb sense 'to provide funding.'