Tom Northover Posted 16 years ago
Vocabulary
The meaning and the origins of the word "spendthrifty"
Hello,
Simple question......
I do not understand why the word "spendthrifty" means "to spend recklessly"
The word "spend" means "to spend" - obviously!
the word "thrifty" on its own means "economically"
This should mean that the word "spendthrifty" means "spend economically" - clearly this is not the case as it means the opposite of this ("spend recklessly").
Perhaos it is from the origins of the workd "thrifty"
Can someone please answer my question.
Many thanks in advance
Tom
Simple question......
I do not understand why the word "spendthrifty" means "to spend recklessly"
The word "spend" means "to spend" - obviously!
the word "thrifty" on its own means "economically"
This should mean that the word "spendthrifty" means "spend economically" - clearly this is not the case as it means the opposite of this ("spend recklessly").
Perhaos it is from the origins of the workd "thrifty"
Can someone please answer my question.
Many thanks in advance
Tom
Top answer
word=oxymoron words as spend and thrift manage to join up in a word meaning "a financial wastrel"? This word first appeared in print in the first decade of the 17th century. At that time the meaning of thrift was "savings, net worth, wealth", a meaning still alive today in the phrase thrift institutions (savings and loan associations).
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Wikepedia - The origin of the word is someone who is able to spend money acquired by the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frugality of predecessors or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestor
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