prodigal

Prodigal is an English adjective meaning spending money or resources freely and recklessly; lavish or wastefully extravagant. It can also describe something abundant or profuse. In its noun form, "a prodigal" refers to a person who wastes wealth or resources. The term is often capitalized when referring to the biblical figure the Prodigal Son.

Etymology and usage develop from Latin. The word derives from Medieval Latin prodigus meaning wasteful or extravagant, passing into Old French and then into English in the late Middle Ages. The sense broadened from a general description of lavish behavior to a label for a person who wastes resources.

The phrase Prodigal Son is the best-known literary and religious use. In the Gospel of Luke, a younger son asks for his inheritance, leaves home, wastes his wealth in reckless living, and returns home in repentance to a forgiving father. The story has shaped the modern sense of prodigal as wasteful but also as an archetype of forgiveness and reconciliation. Beyond this parable, prodigal appears in various works of literature, film, and music to evoke themes of excess, loss, and redemption.

In contemporary usage, prodigal primarily functions as an adjective describing prodigious or wasteful spending, and it is often paired with "son" in cultural references. The broader idiomatic sense remains tied to extravagance and the potential for personal or moral renewal. See also Prodigal Son.