{
  "id": "compound-interest.small-cause",
  "term": "compound interest",
  "sense": "small-cause",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 14,
  "domain": "economic growth",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "a small cause that grows because each new effect becomes a cause in the same direction, drifting the parameter further without any additional input.",
  "folk_gloss": "interest that is added to both the principal and the accumulated interest.",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "drift.aimless",
      "cause.reason",
      "parameter.condition",
      "increase.quantity"
    ],
    "interaction": "stacked",
    "novel_properties": [
      "self-reinforcing drift"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "compound interest"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — small cause, large effect"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-compound-interest.small-cause"
}