Etymologically
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capitalist

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈkæp.ɪ.tə.lɪst/[1]

Etymology

It was formed from English capital + -ist in the sense of capital as wealth,[2][3][4] after French capitaliste,[2][5][6] which itself followed capitalist.[2][7] The Dutch word meant a person subject to a capital tax (1621) and then a rich person (1683); French borrowed it for the same tax in the Netherlands (1678) and used it for an investor from the mid-18th century,[2] and Etymonline calls the French word a term of reproach coined in the Revolution.[5] Merriam-Webster derives the English word from French, Dutch or German, with the Dutch word taken from German Kapitalist.[7] The noun capital "wealth, stock" goes back to Medieval Latin capitāle (“stock, property”), from capitālis (“of the head, chief”), from caput (“head”).[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who owns capital, especially one who invests it in business for profit: 1774, in Philip Francis's translation of Isaac de Pinto's Essay on Circulation.[2] Etymonline and Barnhart date the word to 1791, Barnhart to a use by George Washington;[5][3] Merriam-Webster gives 1781.[7]

Semantic evolution

The Shorter Oxford notes that the noun has often been used disparagingly.[8] The adjective, of capitalists or of capitalism, followed in 1817 in the OED;[2] the Shorter Oxford dates it to the mid-19th century and Merriam-Webster to 1845.[8][7] The noun later came to mean also a supporter of capitalism as an economic system,[2][9] a word Barnhart dates to 1854, in Thackeray's The Newcomes;[3] Etymonline says that the sense of an economic system favouring capitalists dates from 1872 and was at first a socialists' term of disparagement.[5]

Timeline

  • 1774 – a person who owns and invests capital.[2]
  • 1781 – Merriam-Webster's first date.[7]
  • 1791 – Etymonline's and Barnhart's first date.[5][3]
  • 1817 – adjective, of capitalists or capitalism.[2]
  • 1854 – the related noun capitalism.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person who has capital, especially one who invests it in business for profit.
  2. A supporter of capitalism.
  3. Broadly, a wealthy person.

Adjective

  1. Owning capital, or practising, supporting or characterized by capitalism: capitalist economies.

Word family

  • capitalistically
  • anticapitalist
  • noncapitalist
  • precapitalist
  • procapitalist

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt