profit

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈprɒf.ɪt/, US /ˈprɑː.fɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English profit,^[2] borrowed from Old French profit (“advantage, profit”) (also prufit, porfit),^[3][4] from Latin prōfectus (“growth, advance, success, progress”),^[3][4] a noun use of the past participle of prōficere (“to make progress, be useful, profit”),^[3][4] from prō (“forward”) and the combining form of facere (“to make, do”).^[3][5] The verb comes partly from the noun and partly from Old French profiter.^[3][4] An Old English word for gain was gewinn.^[3] It is related to proficient and profiteer.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Income, earnings, revenue: 1263 in Barnhart,^[4] mid-13th century in Etymonline,^[3] which glosses it as income from an office, property or transaction.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From about 1300 it meant “benefit, spiritual benefit, advantage”,^[3] and in the mid-14th century “use, usefulness”.^[3] The economic sense, the gain to the owner of capital beyond expenditure, is from about 1600,^[3] or the 17th century in Hoad.^[6] The verb, “to advance, benefit”, is from the early 14th century,^[3] “to be helpful” from the mid-14th century^[3] and “to derive benefit” from about 1400.^[3][7] Profit margin is attested from 1853 and profit-sharing by 1881.^[3] Profiteer, one who makes an unfair profit, is from 1912 and was made popular in World War I of armament makers.^[4] In Shetland and Yorkshire dialect a cow in profit was in milk.^[8]

Timeline

• 1263 – income, revenue.^[4]
• c. 1300 – advantage, benefit.^[3]
• early 14th century – verb, to benefit.^[3]
• c. 1400 – to derive benefit.^[3][7]
• c. 1600 – gain from capital.^[3]
• 1853 – profit margin.^[3]
• 1912 – profiteer.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An advantageous gain or return; benefit.
2. The return on a business after all expenses have been met.
3. The return on an investment after all charges.

Verb

1. To make a gain or profit.
2. To derive advantage; to benefit.
3. To be of advantage to.

Word family

• profitless
• profitwise
• profiter
• profitlessly
• profitlessness
• for-profit
• unprofited
• unprofiting

Related words

• proficiency
• proficient
• profiteer
• profitable
• fact
• benefit

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)