「benefit」と「profit」の違い＋JunkWorldは英語の使い方に注意した方が良い

Someone was asking about the difference between "benefit" and "profit". There are always mistakes.

benefit 【名】(definition from Eijiro on the Web)

1. 便益｛べんえき｝、恩恵｛おんけい｝、利益｛りえき｝［ため］になること
2. 援助｛えんじょ｝、手助け｛てだすけ｝
3. 〔金銭的｛きんせん てき｝〕利益｛りえき｝、利得｛りとく｝
4. 〔社会福祉の〕給付金｛きゅうふきん｝、福祉手当｛ふくし てあて｝、扶助金｛ふじょきん｝◆通例benefits
5. 慈善｛じぜん｝［募金｛ぼきん

profit 【名】(definition from Eijiro on the Web)

利益｛りえき｝、収益｛しゅうえき｝、利潤｛りじゅん｝、得 ・100,000 yen profit : 10万円の利益。

Consider the case of a company which has just begun producing a new product. The sales of the product are going very well, and the company management is very happy. That's because:

× The company got a lot of benefit from the new product. <- this is roughly true, but the real reason...
◯ The company made a big profit from the new product. <- ...is that they earned a lot of money!

"Benefit" is used for good things of any type.

• You benefit a lot from studying English.

"Profit" is most commonly used to talk about the money earned by a company.

• Profits of companies during the bubble were good, but some companies are having trouble making profits today.

Both of these words can also be used as verbs.

I wonder about the profits of JunkWorld, a computer reseller I saw on Nakano Broadway. I'm not sure if they profit from selling used computers, but they would definitely benefit from changing their name.

That's because "junk" is another word for "garbage". New computers are getting really cheap, so I don't know why anyone would be interested in buying junk. The definition below does include "second-hand goods", but the only second-hand goods that can be called "junk" are the ones that are basically garbage.

junk 【1名】(definition from Eijiro on the Web)

1. くず、がらくた、廃品｛はいひん｝、中古品｛ちゅうこひん｝
2. ジャンクメール
3. ＝salt junk
4. 〈話〉ばかげた話、ナンセンス
   ・What a load of junk! : ばかなことばっかり言って！

I'm sure you would benefit by buying a new computer rather than a piece of junk from JunkWorld. Unfortunately, that will deprive them of their profits.

• deprivation 奪う、取り上げる、剥奪｛はくだつ｝する◆【類】strip ; divest ; take away (defintion from Eijiro on the Web)