What it means
A spendthrift is someone who tears through money the minute it hits their hands. The sort of person who gets paid on Friday, lives like royalty by Sunday, then starts dodging their banking app. It can be judgey, but it also gets used for people who are wildly generous and hopeless at holding onto cash.
Usage examples
"He's a total spendthrift, three days after payday he's already borrowing for lunch."
"Being a spendthrift in your twenties is fun until the credit card bill lands."
"Mia's such a spendthrift, she bought concert tickets, new trainers, and a fancy dinner before she'd even paid her gas bill."
"He's a lovable spendthrift, always picking up the whole round then acting shocked when he's skint on Monday."
Where it comes from
This one’s old-school English, around since the 1600s. It joins spend with thrift, but thrift here meant prosperity or saved-up wealth, not careful budgeting in the modern sense. So a spendthrift was literally someone who spent their thrift away, which is why the word has always had that wasteful, money-flying-out-the-window vibe.
This expression also appears in
