Thrift

How to spell thrift

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce thrift

What does thrift mean?

1. nounCareful and economical management of money and resources to avoid waste.

Thrift in a sentence

• Years of careful thrift allowed them to clear the mortgage early.

• The household budget rewarded thrift by setting aside every spare pound.

Where does thrift come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

The word comes from Old Norse, where 'thrift' meant prosperity, success, or savings, and was formed directly from the verb 'thrifask', meaning 'to thrive'. When Norse speakers settled in England, they brought both the verb thrive and this related noun with them, so thrift originally described the good fortune and flourishing condition of someone who was doing well. Over the medieval centuries the sense narrowed: because thriving so often depended on careful handling of money and resources, thrift came to mean the prudent, economical management that produced prosperity rather than the prosperity itself. The plant called thrift (the cushion-forming sea pink of coastal cliffs) earned its name from its hardy, thriving growth in poor, salty soil. The buried link to 'thrive' explains the spelling: it is thri-f-t, sharing its stem with that verb, not a softer form.

How the word is built

• thriv- (from thrive: to prosper)
• -t (noun-forming ending, with vowel shortening)