thrift

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English thrift, also thrif and trift.^[2] The OED takes it as formed from English thrive + -t, like drift, gift and rift, perhaps reinforced in the north of England by Old Norse þrift (“thriving condition, prosperity”), an occasional synonym of þrif;^[3][4] Barnhart and Etymonline likewise derive it from thriven, influenced by the Norse word.^[5][6] Merriam-Webster, Hoad, the Shorter Oxford, Klein and Skeat take it directly from the Old Norse noun,^{[7][8][9][10][11]} which is from þrífask (“to thrive”),^[7][8][6] and the Oxford Dictionary of English from þrífa (“to grasp, get hold of”).^[12][10] The verb thrive itself is a borrowing from Old Norse.^[13][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Prosperous growth, thriving: about 1230, in Hali Meidenhad.^[3] Barnhart dates it to before 1300, in Sir Tristrem, in the sense of prosperity, savings and profit.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English thrift meant prosperity, wealth and success, and also luck or fortune, good or bad.^[3][2][8] From before 1350 it meant savings, earnings or acquired wealth.^[3][8] The modern sense, careful use of money, grew out of this: Barnhart dates it to 1553,^[5] Etymonline to the 1550s,^[6] and the OED to 1570,^[3] while the adjective thrifty already meant economical in 1526.^[5] Johnson (1755) still listed "profit; gain; riches gotten; state of prospering" first.^[14] The older senses survive in spendthrift and thriftless, and in the sense of vigorous growth that Merriam-Webster records for animals and plants.^[6][7] The plant name, for the sea pink, appears in 1592, in Robert Greene.^[3][8] In Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire dialect thrift meant growing pains.^[15][3] In American English a thrift is also a savings and loan association (1981), and the verb thrift means to shop for second-hand goods (1980);^[3][16] the thrift shop is recorded from 1919 in Etymonline, 1947 in Barnhart.^[6][5]

Timeline

• c. 1230 – prosperous growth, thriving.^[3]
• c. 1305 – prosperity, success, luck.^[3]
• before 1350 – savings, earnings, acquired wealth.^[3]
• 1526 – thrifty, economical.^[5]
• 1553 – the habit of saving, economy.^[5]
• 1592 – the plant sea pink.^[3]
• 1919 – thrift shop.^[6]
• 1980 – the verb, to shop for second-hand goods.^[3]
• 1981 – a savings and loan association.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Careful and wise management of money and other resources; frugality: Years of thrift allowed them to buy the farm.^[16][7][3]
2. A low-growing plant of the genus Armeria, especially the sea pink, with round heads of pink or white flowers.^[16][7][3]
3. (US) A savings and loan association or similar savings institution.^[16][3]
4. Healthy, vigorous growth.^[16][7]
5. (obsolete) Prosperity, success.^[16][3][7]

Verb

1. (chiefly US) To shop for second-hand goods.^[3]

Word family

• thriftless
• thrifty
• thrift shop

Related words

• thrive
• spendthrift

Usage notes

A separate noun thrift, the handle of a mill bill, recorded from about 1900, is of obscure origin.^[3][9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins