affluent

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French affluent, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin affluentem, accusative singular of affluēns, present active participle of affluō (“flow to or towards; overflow with”), from ad (“to, towards”) + fluō (“flow”) (cognate via latter to fluid, flow). Sense of “wealthy” (plentiful flow of goods) c. 1600, which also led to nominalization affluence.

Pronunciation

• • IPA^(key): /ˈæf.lu.ənt/

• • enPR: ăf'lo͞o-ənt, IPA^(key): /ˈæfluːənt/

    Audio (US):

    (file)

  • enPR: ă-flo͞o'ənt, ə-flo͞o'ənt, IPA^(key): /æˈfluːənt/, /əˈfluːənt/
  • Although the pronunciation with second-syllable stress does occur in educated U.S. usage, it is appreciably less common than the pronunciation with first-syllable stress and is regarded as unacceptable by many American speakers.

Noun

affluent (plural affluents)

1. Somebody who is wealthy.
   • 1994, Philip D. Cooper, Health care marketing: a foundation for managed quality (page 183)

     The affluents are most similar to the professional want-it-alls in their reasons for preferring specific hospitals and in their demographic characteristics.

2. A stream or river flowing into a larger river or into a lake; a tributary stream; a tributary.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:moneybags

Translations

someone wealthy

• Bulgarian: богата́ш (bg) m (bogatáš)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 富翁 (zh) (fùwēng), 富人 (zh) (fùrén)

• Dutch: rijkaard (nl) m
• Finnish: varakas (fi)
• French: richard (fr) m
• German: Reicher (de) m, Geldsack m (pejorative)
• Greek: πλούσιος (el) m (ploúsios)
• Hungarian: tehetős (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 金持ち (ja) (かねもち, kanemochi), 金満家 (きんまんか, kinmanka)
• Macedonian: имотник m (imotnik), богаташ m (bogataš)
• Russian: бога́ч (ru) m (bogáč)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: имућник m, богаташ m

  Roman: imućnik m, bogataš (sh) m

• Spanish: ricachón m (pejorative)
• Turkish: zengin (tr), varsıl (tr), varlıklı (tr)

tributary — see tributary

Adjective

affluent (comparative more affluent, superlative most affluent)

1. Abundant; copious; plenteous.
   • (Can we date this quote by H. Reed and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     language […] affluent in expression

2. (by extension) Abounding in goods or riches; having a moderate level of material wealth.

   They were affluent, but aspired to true wealth.

   • 2013 September-October, Michael Sivak, “Will AC Put a Chill on the Global Energy Supply?”, in American Scientist:

     Nevertheless, it is clear that the global energy demand for air-conditioning will grow substantially as nations become more affluent, with the consequences of climate change potentially accelerating the demand.

3. (dated) Tributary.
4. (obsolete) Flowing to; flowing abundantly.
   • (Can we date this quote by Harvey and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     affluent blood

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:wealthy

Antonyms

• indigent

Derived terms

• affluence
• affluently

Translations

abundant

• Bulgarian: изоби́лен (bg) (izobílen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 豐富／丰富 (zh) (fēngfù), 丰富 (zh) (fēngfù), 豐裕／丰裕 (zh) (fēngyù), 丰裕 (zh) (fēngyù)

• Finnish: runsas (fi)
• French: abondant (fr)
• German: reichlich (de)
• Greek: άφθονος (el) m (áfthonos), πλούσιος (el) m (ploúsios)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 裕福 (ja) (ゆうふく, yūfuku)
• Macedonian: обилен (obilen)
• Portuguese: afluente (pt)
• Russian: оби́льный (ru) (obílʹnyj), изоби́льный (ru) (izobílʹnyj)
• Spanish: abundante (es)
• Swedish: riklig (sv), öveflödande

abounding in goods or riches; materially wealthy

• Bulgarian: бога́т (bg) (bogát), охо́лен (bg) (ohólen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 富裕 (zh) (fùyù)

• Dutch: welgesteld (nl)
• Finnish: varakas (fi)
• French: riche (fr)
• German: wohlhabend (de), begütert (de), reich (de)
• Greek: εύπορος (el) m (éfporos), πλούσιος (el) m (ploúsios)
• Hungarian: gazdag (hu)
• Japanese: 裕福 (ja) (ゆうふく, yūfuku)
• Latin: affluens
• Macedonian: имашен (imašen), имотен (imoten)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: zamożny (pl) m
• Portuguese: afluente (pt)
• Russian: бога́тый (ru) (bogátyj), состоя́тельный (ru) (sostojátelʹnyj), зажи́точный (ru) (zažítočnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: имућан

  Roman: imućan (sh)

• Slovene: bogat (sl), premožen
• Spanish: adinerado (es) m, rico (es) m
• Swedish: förmögen (sv), rik (sv), välbärgad (sv)
• Turkish: varlıklı (tr), zengin (tr), varsıl (tr)

tributary

• Bulgarian: влива́щ се (vlivášt se)
• Finnish: osallinen (fi)
• French: affluent (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: υποτελής (el) m or f (ypotelís)
• Russian: влива́ющийся (ru) (vlivájuščijsja)
• Spanish: afluente (es)

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French

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.fly.ɑ̃/

• (un affluent):

  (file)

Adjective

affluent (feminine affluente, masculine plural affluents, feminine plural affluentes)

1. tributary

Noun

affluent m (plural affluents)

1. tributary; affluent

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.fly/

Verb

affluent

1. third-person plural present indicative of affluer
2. third-person plural present subjunctive of affluer

Further reading

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

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) affluent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of affluō