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Frugal Has Surprising Roots
Those who are frugal are unwilling to (lavishly) enjoy the fruits of their labors, so it may surprise you to learn that frugal ultimately derives from the Latin frux, meaning "fruit" or "value," and is even a distant cousin of the Latin word for "enjoy" (frui). The connection between fruit or value and restraint was first made in Latin; the Middle French word that English speakers eventually adopted as frugal came from the Latin adjective frugalis, a frux descendant meaning "virtuous" or "frugal." Although English speakers adopted frugal by the 16th century, they were already lavishly supplied with earlier coinages to denote the idea, including sparing and thrifty.
Synonyms
Examples of frugal in a Sentence
Johanna McGeary, Time, 25 Oct. 2004
Like frugal cooks everywhere, Cajun cooks from generations past found plenty of ways to use every part of the animals they raised.
—Jeremy Sauer, Cook's Country, June 1995
In a frugal white frame house of tiny rooms that shook with every passing freight train, five boys of German immigrant background had grown up at the turn of the twentieth century.
—Robert D. Kaplan, An Empire Wilderness, 1988
a frugal meal of bread and cheese
by being frugal, the family is able to stretch its monthly budget
Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune Europe, 13 Aug. 2024
The other side: He's been criticized for botching the end of the Bulls dynasty and has been maligned for frugal spending for both franchises.
—Justin Kaufmann, Axios, 17 Oct. 2024
Intel Core Ultra 200: Drastically lower power and thermals
The key takeaway, though, is that the Core Ultra 200 series will be far more power frugal, drawing up to 165W less than the 14th gen models, with the Core Ultra 9 285K drawing on average 80W less in games.
—Antony Leather, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
And due to higher costs, Sago found that shoppers have become more frugal and bargain-seeking.
—Arthur Zaczkiewicz, WWD, 5 Sep. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Frugal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frugal. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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