5 ms·
Non-native-speaker: I always thought 'rich' and 'wealthy' had the same meaning - was I mistaken?
by gverrilla 5y ago
Non-native-speaker: I always thought 'rich' and 'wealthy' had the same meaning - was I mistaken?
- HWR_14 5y agoRich and wealthy have slightly different meanings. One common usage is the level of money. Chris Rock had a joke that "[Professional Athlete] is rich. The guy who signs his checks [and thus owns the team] is wealthy." Sorry to ruin the joke with additional text, but I'm erroring on the side of clarity. The other main usage would be that "rich" describes how you can spend your money on possessions. "Wealthy" describes the degree to which your assets are generating income. So someone who makes a large sum of money a year might be rich (they own a Lamborghini and a house, and take fancy vacations) or wealthy (they have all that money in stocks and can retire tomorrow.) With this usage, wealthy people are often also rich.