Where does “pricey” come from?
Pricey derives from English price plus the suffix -y, with price coming from French prix, from Middle French prix, from Latin pretium meaning value or cost.
pricey (English): Expensive, dear
Definitions
- Expensive, dear
Ancestry of “pricey”, step by step
pricey traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Y
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Y | A figure or mark in the shape of the letter Y; A... |
| 2 | English | yuri | A narrative or visual work featuring a romance or... |
| 3 | Japanese | 百合 | lily |
| 4 | Japanese | 連用形 | an inflectional category: the continuative or... |
| 5 | Japanese | 見る | to see, to watch, to observe, to look at... |
| 6 | Japanese | 夢 | a dream; a vision; leaving reality to the state... |
| 7 | Old Japanese | 夢 | a dream |
| 8 | Japanese | 目 | an order in biology: smaller than a class, bigger... |
| 9 | Middle Chinese | 目 | — |
via English Price
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Price | anglicized from ap Rhys |
| 2 | Middle English | price | price, prize, value, excellence |
| 3 | Old French | pris | price; esteem; reputation; past participle of... |
| 4 | Latin | pretium | worth, price, value, cost; pay, hire, wage,... |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | pretjom | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | per- | before, in front; first; to go through |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | pr̥tós | passed , crossed |