lucrative

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lucratif,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French lucratif and directly borrowed from Latin lucrātīvus (“gainful, profitable”),^[3][6][2] from lucrātus, the past participle of lucror (“to gain, win, acquire”),^[6][2][4] from lucrum (“gain, profit”), the source of lucre.^[6][2][3] The OED and the Oxford Dictionary of English derive the word from Latin alone.^[7][8] The American Heritage Dictionary refers lucrum to the root Proto-Indo-European *lau-,^[2] and Klein compares Ancient Greek λεία (leía, “booty”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Yielding gain or profit: about 1412, in Hoccleve's Regement of Princes.^[7][9]

Semantic evolution

A lucrative office was one that carried pay,^[7] and in Scots law, from 1681, lucrative succession denoted an acceptance by an heir apparent during the lifetime of the person he would succeed, a term modelled on Latin in Roman law.^[7] From 1549 to 1797 the word could also describe people or their acts as bent on gain, avaricious.^[7] Johnson (1755) defined it as "gainful; profitable; bringing money", quoting Bacon on trade.^[10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds a military use, of a target worth attacking.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1412 – yielding gain, profitable.^[7][9]
• 1549 – of people, bent on gain (obsolete by 1797).^[7]
• 1681 – Scots law, lucrative succession.^[7]
• 1755 – Johnson: gainful, profitable.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Producing a large profit or income; profitable: a lucrative contract with a shipping firm.^[11][5][7]
2. Of a military target, worth attacking.^[5]
3. (Scots law) In lucrative succession, an acceptance by an heir apparent during the lifetime of the person he will succeed.^[7]

Word family

• lucratively
• lucrativeness
• unlucrative

Related words

• lucre

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins