Frugal means careful to spend as little as possible. A frugal meal, frugal habits, frugal by nature.
It is approving where mean is not — a frugal person spends little by choice and gives freely, which is the distinction that matters. Of a meal it means plain and small. Note that the Latin frugalis meant virtuous as well as thrifty, from frux, fruit or produce — thrift was a virtue by definition.
1adjectivefrugalCareful to spend as little as possible.
“They lived a frugal life, growing their own vegetables and rarely eating out.”
synonyms: thrifty, sparing
frugal is a quality of thrift.
Also accepted in games: economical
Latin frugalis means thrifty or virtuous, from frux, fruit or produce. Fruit comes from the same root.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰrewHg-
Latin
frugalis — virtuous, thrifty
English, today
frugal
From Middle French -, from Latin frugalis (“virtuous, thrifty”). Displaced native spærhende.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA