Etymologically
Log in

thrift

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 16:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈθɹɪft/[1]

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

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