Rentiers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who receives income from property or investments without actively participating in their management
2. an individual whose primary earnings are based on assets rather than labor
3. someone who relies on rental income or dividends as their main source of financial support

Etymology: The English "rentier" was borrowed directly from French, where it means a person living on income from investments or property rents. The French word is built from "rente," meaning income or annuity, which passed into French from Old French and ultimately traces back to Latin roots tied to giving back or returning something, and the French "-ier" ending is the same suffix that turns a trade or occupation into the person who practises it, as in "banquier" for banker. The plural "rentiers" is simply the form of the same word for more than one such person. The word stayed closely tied to its French setting, and it is most often found in economic writing about a class of people whose wealth lets them live without working. Its straightforward construction means the core idea is visible in the word itself: a person whose living is the rent that comes in.

Synonyms: landlords, property owners, investors