Profitability

How to spell profitability

13 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce profitability

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does profitability mean?

1. nounThe capacity of a business or activity to produce a financial gain.

Profitability in a sentence

• The board questioned the long-term profitability of the new factory.

• Rising fuel costs threaten the profitability of the airline.

Where does profitability come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on profit, which English took from Old French profit in the 1200s, itself descended from the Latin profectus meaning 'advance' or 'progress'. That Latin noun came from proficere, literally 'to make headway' or 'to accomplish', formed from pro 'forward' and facere 'to make or do', so the original idea was of moving something forward to good effect. Over time the financial sense of profit, a surplus gained from trade, came to dominate in English. The adjective profitable, meaning 'yielding gain', was layered on with the suffix -able, and the abstract noun profitability, naming the quality of being profitable, is a much later formation that became common with the rise of modern commerce and accounting. The spelling trap sits in the unstressed middle, where the calm schwa vowels hide whether you write -abil- or -ibil-; remembering that it grows from profit and profitable keeps the a in place.

How the word is built

• profit (from Latin profectus: advance, gain)
• -able (capable of)
• -ity (noun of quality)