profitprofit

Profit comes from Old French profit, from Latin prōfectus ‘progress, profit’, from prōficiō ‘to advance, benefit’, from prō- + faciō ‘to make’.

1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁k-¹reconstructed
2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰh₁kyéti¹reconstructed
3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fakjō¹‘to make’reconstructed
4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfaciō¹‘to make, do’
5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōficiō²‘to advance; to benefit, profit’
6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōfectus²‘advance, progress, profit’
7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400profit²
8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500profit²
9. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604profit²

1. ¹ Wiktionary, Latin proficio
2. ² Wiktionary, English profit
3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice: “if you dare do yourself a profit and a…”.