What does 'buck' in 'the buck stops here' mean? Where does this idiom originally come from?
I heard that one former American President used to put this words on the door.

I know it means 'responsibility or blame is accepted here and will never be passed to someone else', but I am wondering what 'buck' here means and where this idiom derives from.

Thanks for your reply.

Question

What does 'buck' in 'the buck stops here' mean? Where does this idiom originally come from?
I heard that one former American President used to put this words on the door.

I know it means 'responsibility or blame is accepted here and will never be passed to someone else', but I am wondering what 'buck' here means and where this idiom derives from.

Thanks for your reply.

Answer

President Harry Truman made the term popular and had a wooden sign on his desk in the Oval Office of The White House which said "The buck stops here".  You are right, it means he had the final decision and responsibility for those decisions.

The  term originally was a poker term.  There was a marker that was put in front of the dealer to indicate it was their turn to deal.  If they did not want to deal, they passed the marker to the next player.  The marker was called a buck (I am not quite sure why.).

Answer

It means that responsibility is not passed on beyond this point. For example you are responsible for paying your bills- so the buck stops with you.