The death of the wallet: how our pockets suddenly got a lot lighter

A new survey finds less than half of British people now carry a wallet – even though 80% own one

Name: The wallet.

Age: The word originates from the late 14th century, meaning something like knapsack. That’s how Shakespeare uses it in Troilus and Cressida, when Ulysses says: “Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back.”