Debit is an accounting term used to describe an entry recorded for a payment made or owed. In double-entry accounting, every transaction impacts at least two accounts, and debits and credits are used to balance each other out. Debits increase asset or expense accounts and decrease liability, revenue, or equity accounts, while credits do the reverse. When recording a transaction, every debit entry must have a corresponding credit entry for the same dollar amount, or vice versa. In a double-entry system, debits are always recorded on the left side of a ledger account, while credits are recorded on the right side.

To summarize, in accounting, a debit entry indicates an increase in assets or expenses and a decrease in liabilities, revenue, or equity. It is recorded on the left side of a ledger account and must have a corresponding credit entry of equal value to balance the books.