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'Profit' is financial gain; 'prophet' is someone who predicts the future or delivers divine messages.
Side-by-side comparison
"Profit" is the financial gain remaining after costs are subtracted from revenue. "Make a profit" = earn more than you spend. "Non-profit" = an organization not aiming for financial gain.
The company posted a record profit in its third quarter.
After costs, the event generated a net profit of twelve thousand dollars.
We need to reduce overhead to improve our profit margins.
"Prophet" is a person regarded as divinely inspired or able to predict the future. "A prophet of doom" = someone who always predicts disaster or bad outcomes.
The prophet warned the city of the coming disaster.
He was seen as a prophet of the digital revolution in the 1980s.
No prophet is accepted in their own hometown, change often comes from outsiders.
Common mistake
- •"The prophet of the company increased" when meaning financial gain is wrong (correct: profit).
- •And "he proved to be a profit in his industry" when meaning a visionary is wrong (correct: prophet).
Trick to remember it
- •"Profit" ends in FIT, a profitable business is financially fit.
- •"Prophet" has PH like "philosophy" and "phone", many Greek-origin words of spiritual or intellectual significance use PH.
Quick rule
- •Is it financial gain? "Profit".
- •Is it the person who predicts the future or delivers divine messages? "Prophet".
Did you know?
PROPHET comes from Greek "prophetes" (one who speaks BEFORE, or ON BEHALF OF, the divine): "pro" (before, on behalf of) + "phetes" (one who speaks). The -PH ending is a marker of Greek origin: when Greek words reached English through Latin, the PH spelling was preserved as a badge of that lineage. PROFIT comes from Latin "profectus" (progress, advance), no Greek, no PH, just the direct Latin F. "Profits" are the economic "advance" a business achieves. And "non-profit" is one of the most frequent compound words in modern English, a type of organization that explicitly does not pursue that economic "advance" as its goal.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
The company made a big _____ last year. They're planning to expand.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
The _____ warned the people of difficult times ahead.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
One means to receive or agree to something, the other means to exclude or not include.
'Advice' is the guidance you receive (noun); 'advise' is the act of giving that guidance (verb).
'Affect' is the verb meaning to influence something; 'effect' is the noun meaning result or consequence.
'Aisle' is the walkway between rows of seats or shelves; 'isle' is a small island.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy