as·set 
(ăsĕt′)
(ăsĕt′)n.
1. A useful or valuable quality, person, or thing; an advantage or resource: proved herself an asset to the company.
2. A valuable item that is owned.
3. A spy working in his or her own country and controlled by the enemy.
4. assets
a. Accounting The entries on a balance sheet showing all properties, both tangible and intangible, and claims against others that may be applied to cover the liabilities of a person or business. Assets can include cash, stock, inventories, property rights, and goodwill.
b. The entire property owned by a person, especially a bankrupt, that can be used to settle debts.
[Back-formation from English assets, sufficient goods to settle a testator's debts and legacies, from Anglo-Norman asetz, from asez, enough, from Vulgar Latin *ad satis, to sufficiency : Latin ad, to; see AD- + Latin satis, enough; see sā- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]