English 'profit' comes through Old French from Latin 'prōfectus' (advancement), from 'prōficere' (to make progress), from 'prō-' (forward) + 'facere' (to do, from PIE *dʰeh₁-) — literally 'the result of doing forward,' and its original meaning of general benefit narrowed to financial gain through centuries of commercial use.
Definition
A financial gain, especially the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying, operating, or producing something.
The Full Story
Latin13th centurywell-attested
From OldFrench 'profit' (advantage, gain, benefit), from Latin 'prōfectus' (advance, progress, success, profit), the past participle of 'prōficere' (to advance, to make progress, to accomplish, to be useful), composed of 'prō-' (forward, on behalf of) + 'facere' (to do, to make). ThePIE root behind 'facere' is *dʰeh₁- (to put, to place, to do, to make), one of the most fundamental verbal roots in Indo-European. The original Latinsensewas
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A 'profit' and a 'prophet' sound identical but have completely unrelated origins. 'Profit' is from Latin 'prōficere' (to advance, to do forward). 'Prophet' is from Greek 'prophētēs' (onewhospeaks before/forth), from 'pro-' (before) + 'phēnai' (to speak). One advances your wealth; the
progress,' advancing in skill. From the same root *dʰeh₁- via Latin 'facere' came an enormous English word family: 'fact,' 'factor,' 'factory,' 'faculty,' 'fashion,' 'feasible,' 'feat,' 'feature,' 'defeat,' 'defect,' 'effect,' 'perfect,' 'sacrifice,' 'satisfy,' 'sufficient,' and 'benefice.' Through Greek 'tithenai' (also from *dʰeh₁-) came 'thesis,' 'theme,' 'epithet,' and 'apothecary.' Profit thus descends from the same root as both thesis and factory — doing, placing, and making. Key roots: prō- (Latin: "forward, forth"), *dʰeh₁- (Proto-Indo-European: "to put, to place, to do").