Where does “cost-free” come from?
cost-free (English) comes from English cost, from Middle English cost, from Middle English costen, from Old French couster, from Medieval Latin costo, from Latin consto, from Latin com-, from Latin con- — whale, sea monster; abyss.
cost-free (English): Of software, content, or materials, without any monetary payment or licensing fees
Definitions
- Of software, content, or materials, without any monetary payment or licensing fees
Ancestry of “cost-free”, step by step
cost-free traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English cost
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | cost | To incur a charge of; to require payment of a (specified) price |
| 2 | Middle English | cost | means |
| 3 | Middle English | costen | to cost |
| 4 | Old French | couster | Alternative form of coster; to cost |
| 5 | Medieval Latin | costo | — |
| 6 | Latin | consto | to stand together; to stand still; to remain the... |
| 7 | Latin | com- | allomorph of con- |
| 8 | Latin | con- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing... |
| 9 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 10 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 14 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 15 | Russian | кит | whale; genitive plural of ки́та |
| 16 | Old Church Slavonic | китъ | whale |
| 17 | Ancient Greek | κῆτος | whale, sea monster; abyss |
via English Free
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Free | Unconstrained |
| 2 | English | faller | One who falls; A fruit that falls from the tree,... |
| 3 | English | -er | A person or thing that does an action indicated... |
| 4 | Middle English | -er | agentive suffix; agent noun suffix |
| 5 | Old French | -er | Alternative form of -ier, verbal suffix;... |
| 6 | Latin | -āre | first conjugation |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -āō | Forms primarily denominative verbs |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 11 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |