Etymograph

English

lucrative

Lucrative comes from French lucratif ‘lucrative, profitable’, from Latin lucror ‘to gain’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leh₂w-1‘profit, gain’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lh₂utlom2reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*luklom2reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElucrum1‘gain’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElucror1‘to gain’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElucratus1‘having gained, acquired, profited’past participle of lucror
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElucrativus1‘profitable’
  8. Old Frenchc. 842–1400lucratif3
  9. Frenchc. 1600–presentlucratif1‘lucrative, profitable’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1999lucrative1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English lucrative
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin lucrum
  3. 3 Wiktionary, French lucratif
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1999, Anthony H. Cordesman, Iran's Military Forces in Transition: “Its troops can be widely dispersed as light infantry,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leh₂w-Wiktionary, English lucrative‘profit, gain’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lh₂utlomWiktionary, Latin lucrumreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*luklomWiktionary, Latin lucrumreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElucrumWiktionary, English lucrative‘gain’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElucrorWiktionary, English lucrative‘to gain’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElucratusWiktionary, English lucrative‘having gained, acquired, profited’past participle of lucror
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElucrativusWiktionary, English lucrative‘profitable’
  8. Old Frenchc. 842–1400lucratifWiktionary, French lucratif
  9. Frenchc. 1600–presentlucratifWiktionary, English lucrative‘lucrative, profitable’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1999lucrativeWiktionary, English lucrative. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1999, Anthony H. Cordesman, Iran's Military Forces in Transition: “Its troops can be widely dispersed as light infantry,…”

Equivalent to lucre + -ative

Middle English lūcre

English lucre

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- ‘profit, gain’

lay, nickel, lewd, laity, lucre, 6 more

Today it means

adj Producing a surplus; profitable.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “lucrative”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin lucrum, French lucratif. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- / lucrative

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