# profit
## English
### 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: /ˈpɹɒfɪt/
* (General American) enPR: prŏfʹit, IPA: /ˈpɹɑfɪt/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Homophone: prophet
* Rhymes: -ɒfɪt
* Hyphenation: prof‧it

### Noun

profit (countable and uncountable, plural profits)
* (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.
* (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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:if you dare do yourself a profit and a right
* (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

* accounting profit
* at a profit
* for-profit
* gross profit
* net profit
* non-profit
* non-profit-making
* normal profit
* profit and loss
* profit a prendre
* profit-à-prendre
* profit center
* profit centre
* profit monger
* profit motive
* profit share
* profit-taking
* profit warning
* sales profit
* supernormal profit
* turn a profit

#### Translations
### Verb

profit (third-person singular simple present profits, present participle profiting, simple past and past participle profited)
* (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[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC:It is a great means of profiting yourself, to copy diligently those excellent pieces and beautiful designs.
* (intransitive, construed with from) To benefit, gain.
* (intransitive, construed with from) To take advantage of, exploit, use.

#### Derived terms

* book profit
* for fun and profit
* for-profit
* nonprofit
* not-for-profit
* paper profit
* profitable
* profitably
* profiteer
* profit from
* profit margin
* profit sharing
* profit taking

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Related terms

* proficiency
* proficient

### Further reading

* “profit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “profit”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* forpit

## Catalan
### Etymology

From Latin prōfectus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [pɾuˈfit]
* IPA: (Valencia) [pɾoˈfit]

### Noun

profit m (plural profits)
* 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, 2025
* “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: /pʁɔ.fi/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

profit m (plural profits)
* profit, benefit
    Il a su tirer profit de ses connaissances.He managed to take advantage of his knowledge.

#### Derived terms

* au profit de
* il n’y a pas de petits profits
* mettre à profit
* tirer profit

### Further reading

* “profit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Hungarian
### Etymology

Borrowed from German Profit.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈprofit]
* Hyphenation: pro‧fit
* Rhymes: -it

### Noun

profit (plural profitok)
* profit (total income or cash flow minus expenditures)
    Synonyms: haszon, nyereség

#### Declension
### References

* ↑ profit in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN. (See also its 2nd edition.)

### 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)
* (Jersey) profit

## Polish
### Etymology

Borrowed from French profit.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈprɔ.fit/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔfit
* Syllabification: pro‧fit

### Noun

profit m inan
* (literary, accounting, economics) profit (money acquired)
    Synonyms: dochód, przychód
* (literary) profit (benefit, positive result obtained)
    Synonyms: korzyść, pożytek, zysk

#### Related terms

* non profit

### References

* ↑ Mirosław Bańko, Lidia Wiśniakowska (2021) “profit”, in Wielki słownik wyrazów obcych, →ISBN
* ↑ Witold Doroszewski, editor (1958–1969), “profit”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), Warszawa: PWN

### 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)
* profit

#### Declension
## Serbo-Croatian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /prǒfiːt/
* Hyphenation: pro‧fit

### Noun

pròfīt m (Cyrillic spelling про̀фӣт)
* profit

#### Declension
## Swedish
### Etymology

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

### Noun

profit c
* (derogatory) profit, unearned income

#### 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
* profit
* interest