affluent

Definition

Someone who is wealthy.

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French affluent, borrowed in turn from Latin affluentem, accusative singular of affluēns, present active participle of affluō (“flow to or towards; overflow with”), from ad (“to, towards”) + fluō (“flow”) (cognate via latter to fluid, flow). Sense of “wealthy” (plentiful flow of goods) c. 1600, which also led to nominalization affluence.

Example Sentences

• "The affluents are most similar to the professional want-it-alls in their reasons for preferring specific hospitals and in their demographic characteristics."
• "It [Central Asia] is separated from the river-system of the Aral and Caspian Seas, […] from the affluents of the Indus and Ganges, on the south, by the chain of the Küen-lün, the rival of the Himalayas, […]"
• "Its sources are everywhere in pine-clad mountains and plateaus, but all of the affluents quickly descend into the desert valley below, through which the Gila winds its way westward to the Colorado."