profitable

English

Etymology

From Old French profitable, equivalent to profit +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒf.ɪ.tə.bl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑ.fɪ.tə.bl̩/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: prof‧it‧a‧ble

Adjective

profitable (comparative more profitable, superlative most profitable)

1. Producing a profit.
   • 1953 April, “Reviving U.S.A. Passenger Traffic”, in Railway Magazine, page 218:

     Profitable operation is being made possible by the widespread introduction of capacious diesel railcars, which for their comfort and speed are very popular with the travelling public.

   • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:

     The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing" […] and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.

2. Beneficial, serviceable, of use.
   • c. 1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott:

     I wylbe ferme and ſtabyll
     And to yow ſeruyceabyll
     And also prophytabyll
     Yf ye be agreabyll
     My propyr Beſſe
     To turne a gayne to me

   • 1840 May 5, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture I. The Hero as Divinity. Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 2:

     Great Men, taken up in any way, are profitable company.

   • 1953, Richmond Lattimore, Aeschylus, “Prometheus Bound”, in Greek Tragedies:

     It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.

Synonyms

• beneficial
• lucrative

Antonyms

• unprofitable

Derived terms

• disprofitable
• hyperprofitable
• improfitable
• nonprofitable
• profitableness
• profitably
• ramen profitable
• superprofitable
• unprofitable

Translations

producing profit

• Asturian: rentable
• Belarusian: кары́сны (karýsny), вы́гадны (výhadny), дахо́дны (daxódny), прыбытко́вы (prybytkóvy), рэнта́бельны (rentábjelʹny)
• Bulgarian: дохо́ден (bg) (dohóden)
• Catalan: profitós (ca), rendible (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (profitable, in terms of money) 可獲利的 / 可获利的 (kě huòlì de), 有利可圖 / 有利可图 (zh) (yǒulìkětú), (beneficial) 有益 (zh) (yǒuyì)

• Czech: ziskový (cs) m, výhodný (cs)
• Danish: rentabel, fortjenstgivende
• Dutch: winstgevend (nl)
• Esperanto: profitodona, profitebla
• Estonian: kasumlik
• Finnish: tuottava (fi), tuottoisa (fi), kannattava (fi)
• French: profitable (fr), fructueux (fr), lucratif (fr), rentable (fr)
• Galician: rendible (gl)
• Georgian: მომგებიანი (momgebiani), შემოსავლიანი (šemosavliani), სარფიანი (sarpiani), რენტაბელური (renṭabeluri)
• German: gewinnbringend (de), profitabel (de), lukrativ (de), einträglich (de), rentabel (de)
• Gothic: 𐌱𐍂𐌿𐌺𐍃 (bruks)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὀνήσιμος (onḗsimos)

• Hungarian: nyereséges (hu), profitábilis (hu), rentábilis (hu), kifizetődő (hu), megtérülő, jövedelmező (hu), hasznot hajtó (hu)
• Irish: airgeadúil
• Italian: redditizio (it), fruttifero (it), remunerativo (it)
• Japanese: 有益な (ja) (ゆうえきな, yūeki na), 利益になる (ja) (りえきになる, rieki ni naru)
• Korean: 유익하다 (ko) (yuikhada), 유리하다 (ko) (yurihada)
• Latin: lucrōsus, lucrificus
• Macedonian: доходовен m (dohodoven), доходен m (dohoden)
• Maori: whaihua
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lønnsom (no)

  Nynorsk: lønsam, lønnsam

• Polish: dochodowy (pl), korzystny (pl)
• Portuguese: lucrativo (pt)
• Romanian: profitabil (ro), fructuos (ro), lucrativ (ro)
• Russian: вы́годный (ru) (výgodnyj), при́быльный (ru) (príbylʹnyj), дохо́дный (ru) (doxódnyj), рента́бельный (ru) (rentábelʹnyj)
• Sanskrit: सफल (sa) (saphala)
• Serbo-Croatian: isplativ (sh), unosan (sh)
• Spanish: rentable (es), provechoso (es), lucrativo (es), ventajoso (es), remunerativo, proficuo, lucroso (es)
• Swedish: lönsam (sv), vinstgivande (sv)
• Turkish: kârlı (tr), kazançlı (tr)
• Ukrainian: ви́гідний (výhidnyj), дохі́дний (doxídnyj), прибутко́вий (uk) (prybutkóvyj), рента́бельний (rentábelʹnyj)

French

Etymology

From profiter +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.fi.tabl/

Adjective

profitable (plural profitables)

1. profitable

Further reading

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

Old French

Etymology

profiter +‎ -able.

Adjective

profitable m (oblique and nominative feminine singular profitable)

1. useful; usable; that one can make use of

Descendants

• → English: profitable
• French: profitable

References

• profitable on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub