Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
personal capital

personal capital

5.3
A person's skills, knowledge, contacts, and reputation that help them succeed
  • noun
  • /ˈpɜrsənl ˈkæpɪtl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : capital personal
  • His extensive personal capital, including his connections and expertise, helped him secure the job.

Examples

  • She used her strong personal capital to build a successful career in finance.

  • Investing in education is a way to enhance your personal capital for future opportunities.

  • Subject's new venture relies heavily on personal capital and wildly overreaches liquid resources.

    The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

Synonyms

capital
vspersonal capital
  • Specialized
726 3.4

Money or property used to start and grow a business

focuses on nonfinancial resources such as skills reputation and networks

Antonyms

liabilities
  • Specialized
1 4.8

Money that a person or company owes to others

Surface Forms

personal capital singular
personal capitals plural

Morphology

personal + capital

The meaning is partly compositional: 'personal' (belonging to an individual) + 'capital' (assets/resources) will lead a B1 learner to infer 'assets or resources a person has.' However, the broader technical sense that includes intangible assets (skills, reputation, networks) is an extended, somewhat specialized use of 'capital' that a learner might not predict from the constituents alone.

Etymology

Personal capital comes from the idea of treating a person's skills, knowledge and contacts like money saved in a bank. So, personal (meaning 'belonging to you') plus capital (meaning 'money or resources') gives a picture of the personal assets that help someone succeed.