profit

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

profit

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• ꝓfit (abbreviation, obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English profit, from Old French profit (Modern French profit), from Latin prōfectus (“advance, progress, growth, increase, profit”), from proficiō (“to go forward, advance, make progress, be profitable or useful”). Doublet of profect.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: prŏfʹit, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒfɪt/
• (General American) enPR: prŏfʹit, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑfɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: prophet
• Rhymes: -ɒfɪt
• Hyphenation: prof‧it

Noun

profit (countable and uncountable, plural profits)

1. (accounting, economics) Total income or cash flow minus expenditures. The money or other benefit a non-governmental organization or individual receives in exchange for products and services sold at an advertised price.
   • 1750 Oct. 2, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler:

     Let no man anticipate uncertain profits.

   • 1935, Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket, page 1 & 7:

     War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives... Of course, it isn't put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into speeches about patriotism, love of country, and "we must all put our shoulders to the wheel," but the profits jump and leap and skyrocket—and are safely pocketed.

   • 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:

     The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.

2. (dated, literary) Benefit, positive result obtained.

   Reading such an enlightening book on the subject was of much profit to his studies.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, 1 Corinthians vii:35:

     This I speak for your own profit.

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     if you dare do yourself a profit and a right

4. (property law) Ellipsis of profit à prendre.

Usage notes

Regarding the income sense, when the difference is negative, the term loss is preferred. Negative profit does appear in microeconomics. Profit by a government agency is called a surplus.

Synonyms

• gain

Antonyms

• loss

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

profit (third-person singular simple present profits, present participle profiting, simple past and past participle profited)

1. (transitive) To benefit (somebody), be of use to (somebody).
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Hebrews 4:2:

     The word preached did not profit them.

   • 1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, , London: J Heptinstall for W. Rogers, , →OCLC:

     It is a great means of profiting yourself, to copy diligently those excellent pieces and beautiful designs.

2. (intransitive, construed with from) To benefit, gain.
3. (intransitive, construed with from) To take advantage of, exploit, use.

Derived terms

Translations

Related terms

• proficiency
• proficient

Further reading

• “profit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “profit”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• forpit

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin prōfectus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Noun

profit m (plural profits)

1. benefit, advantage

Derived terms

• aprofitar
• bon profit
• profitós

Further reading

• “profit” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “profit”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “profit” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “profit” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French profit, from Latin prōfectus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.fi/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

profit m (plural profits)

1. profit, benefit

   Il a su tirer profit de ses connaissances.

   He managed to take advantage of his knowledge.

Derived terms

Further reading

• “profit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Profit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: pro‧fit
• Rhymes: -it

Noun

profit (plural profitok)

1. profit (total income or cash flow minus expenditures)

   Synonyms: haszon, nyereség

Declension

References

Further reading

• profit in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Norman

Etymology

From Old French profit, from Latin profectus (“advance, progress, growth, increase, profit”).

Noun

profit m (plural profits)

1. (Jersey) profit

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

profit

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Borrowed from French profit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈprɔ.fit/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔfit
• Syllabification: pro‧fit

Noun

profit m inan

1. (literary, accounting, economics) profit (money acquired)

   Synonyms: dochód, przychód

2. (literary) profit (benefit, positive result obtained)

   Synonyms: korzyść, pożytek, zysk

Declension

Related terms

References

Further reading

• profit in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• profit in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “profit”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “profit”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861‎
• A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1908), “profit”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎ (in Polish), volume 4, Warsaw, page 1009
• profit in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French profit.

Noun

profit n (plural profituri)

1. profit

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /prǒfiːt/
• Hyphenation: pro‧fit

Noun

pròfīt m (Cyrillic spelling про̀фӣт)

1. profit

Declension

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish profit, from French profit, from Latin prōficere. Attested since 1487.

Noun

profit c

1. (derogatory) profit, unearned income

Declension

Related terms

• profitera
• profitör

References

• profit in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• profit in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• profit in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English profit.

Noun

profit

1. profit
2. interest