the.com/burn rate

means The pace at which a company spends its cash reserves before new revenue or funding arrives — usually measured per month.

from Compound coinage from everyday 'burn' (to consume rapidly, as in burning fuel or money) plus 'rate' (a measured speed). It entered startup and venture-capital jargon in the late 20th century, especially around the dot-com boom, as founders and investors needed a blunt metric for how fast cash reserves were being incinerated before profitability — or the next funding round — arrived.