Where does “unprofitable” come from?
Unprofitable derives from English profit combined with the prefix un-, itself from Latin unus meaning "one," which traces to Proto-Indo-European óynos.
unprofitable (English): not making a profit
Definitions
- not making a profit
Ancestry of “unprofitable”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | profitable | Producing a profit |
| 2 | Old French | profitable | useful; usable; that one can make use of |
| 3 | Old French | able | able; capable |
| 4 | Latin | habilis | able to have/possess/maintain; having sufficient... |
| 5 | Latin | -ilis | -ile |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -elis | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -elis | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |