different between profitable vs proficient

English

Etymology

Old French profitable.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p??f?t?bl?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??f?t?bl?/
• Hyphenation: prof?it?a?ble

Adjective

profitable (comparative more profitable, superlative most profitable)

1. Producing a profit.
2. Beneficial, serviceable, of use.
   • c. 1521, John Skelton, “Speke Parott”:

     I wylbe ferme and ?tabyll
     And to yow ?eruyceabyll
     And also prophytabyll
     Yf ye be agreabyll
     My propyr Be??e
     To turne a gayne to me

   • 1953, ?Richmond Lattimore, Aeschylus, "Prometheus Bound", in Greek Tragedies

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

Synonyms

• lucrative
• beneficial

Antonyms

• unprofitable

Derived terms

Translations

French

Etymology

From profiter +? -able

Adjective

profitable (plural profitables)

1. profitable

Further reading

• “profitable” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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

English

Etymology

From Latin proficiens, present participle of proficere (“to go forward, advance, make progress, succeed, be profitable or useful”), from pro (“forth, forward”) + facere (“to make, do”); see fact.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p???f??.?nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /p?o??f??.?nt/, /p???f??.?nt/
• Rhymes: -???nt

Adjective

proficient (comparative more proficient, superlative most proficient)

1. Good at something; skilled; fluent; practiced, especially in relation to a task or skill.

   He was a proficient writer with an interest in human nature.

   • 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5

     By constant playing and experimenting with these he learned to tie rude knots, and make sliding nooses; and with these he and the younger apes amused themselves. What Tarzan did they tried to do also, but he alone originated and became proficient.

Synonyms

• (good at): skilled, fluent, practiced

Translations

Noun

proficient (plural proficients)

1. An expert.
   • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 10, [1]

     Why not subpoena as well the clerical proficients?

Synonyms

• (expert): expert; see also Thesaurus:skilled person

Translations

Related terms

• profit
• profitability
• profitable
• profiteer
• proficiency

Further reading

• proficient in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• proficient in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Latin

Verb

pr?ficient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of pr?fici?