The compound noun 'thrift-store' is a modern American English formation that directly combines two established words to describe a specific type of retail establishment. The first element, 'thrift', carries its evolved sense of careful management of money and resources, a meaning that developed from its original Scandinavian sense of prosperity gained through such management. The second element, 'store', retains its core meaning of a place where merchandise is kept. The logic of the compound is transparent: it is a store whose business model is based on the principle of thrift, selling used items cheaply, thereby allowing customers to be thrifty. This reflects a 20th-century institutionalization of the older practice of charitable selling of second-hand goods.

Structure: thrift (sense) + store (sense) - thrift: From Middle English 'thrift', from Old Norse 'þrift' (prosperity, well-being), related to the verb 'thrive'. Its functional role is to denote the quality of economical management or frugality. - store: From Middle English 'store', from Old French 'estore' (supplies, provisions), from Latin 'instaurare' (to renew, restore). Its functional role is to denote a place where goods are kept for sale.