Afloat means resting on the surface of water rather than sinking. Keep the boat afloat, stay afloat, set afloat.
The figurative sense is now the commoner: staying afloat means having just enough money to continue, and a business kept afloat is one not yet sunk. It belongs to the family of sailing words built with a-, alongside aground, aloft and astern.
1adjectiveafloatResting on the surface of water rather than sinking.
“The boat was badly damaged but stayed afloat until the rescuers arrived.”
afloat is a state.
Proto-Indo-European
*plew-
Proto-Indo-European
*plewd-
Proto-Germanic
*flutōną — to float
Proto-West Germanic
*flotōn
Old English
flotian — to float
Middle English
floten
English
float
English, today
afloat
Built from
From a- + float. float comes from Middle English floten, from Old English flotian (“to float”), from Proto-West Germanic flotōn, from Proto-Germanic flutōną (“to float”), from Proto-Indo-European plewd-, plew- (“to float, swim, fly”). Compare flow, fleet.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA