Home › Glossary › Letter P

Profit

Economics
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The financial gain remaining after costs have been subtracted from revenue.

Detailed Definition
Profit is what remains when an enterprise earns more than it spends. In poetry, it can expose the calculation beneath pleasant surfaces: a product, building, or service may appear harmless while yielding gain through low wages, extraction, or exclusion. The term can also create tension between measurable success and moral value, asking what kind of profit is made when a community, landscape, or relationship pays the hidden cost.
Example
Example in poetry:
A speaker writes that the landlord’s profit rises while the tenants’ rooms grow colder, linking profit to inequality; In a poem about a street vendor, a small daily profit becomes a measure of survival; A satirical poem may call applause the “profit” of a performer, questioning what artists gain from public approval; The final lines can contrast financial profit with the lasting value of friendship or care
Additional Notes
Profit equals revenue minus costs. Businesses may use profit to pay owners, invest in growth, or build reserves; a loss occurs when costs are higher.
Also Known As
Earnings Gain Net Income boot
Skip to main content