ANATOCISMUS, an usurious contract, wherein the interests arising from the principal sum are added to the principal itself, and interest exacted upon the whole. The word is originally Greek, but used by Cicero in Latin; whence it has descended into most other languages. It comes from the preposition ana, which in composition signifies repetition or duplication, and riza, usury. Anatocism is what we properly call interest upon interest, or compound interest. This is the worst kind of usury, and has been severely condemned by the Roman law, as well as by the common laws of most other countries.