lucre

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈluːkə/ (UK); /ˈluːkɚ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English,^[2][3] from Old French lucre,^[4][3] from Latin lucrum (“gain, profit”),^{[2][5][4][3][6]} which is probably related to Old English lēan “reward” and German Lohn.^[3][6][4] It is related to lucrative.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Illicit gain, and also monetary gain or profit (about 1390).^[5][4][7]

Semantic evolution

The word had a bad sense from the start: Latin lucrum also meant “avarice”, and Middle English lucre could mean illicit gain.^[2][5] William Tyndale's rendering of Greek aiskhron kerdos as filthy lucre in Titus 1:11 fixed its unfavourable tone.^[2][4][7] The OED notes that it is now used only with this unfavourable implication.^[7]

Timeline

• about 1380 – gain, profit.^[7]
• about 1390 – illicit gain.^[5]
• 1570 – verb, to make gain, now rare.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Money or profit, especially regarded as degrading or as the object of greed.

Word family

• filthy lucre

Related words

• lucrative

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press