A prophet is someone who delivers messages of guidance or warning to others based on divine inspiration. The word profit, on the other hand, refers to the money a business makes after it has paid all its costs. Profit can also mean gaining a benefit from a particular activity, investment, or endeavor.
Prophet comes from the Greek word prophētēs, which refers to someone who speaks for a higher power. Often predicting future events, a prophet receives a message from a divine source and shares it with people. When a teacher tells the class there will be a test tomorrow and the next day there's an exam, she is not acting as a prophet. But when spiritual leaders like Moses and Mohammed led their followers with divinely inspired words, they were acting as prophets. Check out more examples below:
Divine law is ordered by God through a prophet. (A History of Medieval Jewish Philosophy)
Near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, a prophet named Muhammad received a revelation that became a cornerstone of the Islamic faith. (U.S. History)
The speaker was the old blind prophet Teiresias, the holy man of Thebes who knew as no one else the will of the gods. (Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes)
Profit comes from the Latin word proficere, which means "to make progress." A company makes progress when the money it makes is more than the cost of running the business. That money after the costs is profit. The company can use the profit to grow the business — and make more progress! If the company grows, then the workers may profit, or benefit, from the growth by receiving better pay. Not all benefits related to profiting need to be financial. For example, you profit from these example sentences by learning how the word profit is correctly used:
Movie theaters make most of their profits from their snack counters, not from ticket sales. (The Omnivore's Dilemma)
As oil prices continued to rise, energy companies also profited. (The New York Times)
As they walked to the guard’s office in the main school building, Shin thought of a way to profit from his information. (Escape from Camp 14)
To tell them apart correctly, think of a prophet as someone who delivers "phrases and praises." A profit, with an f, usually refers to something financial.