Price

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /pɹaɪs/

Definitions

1. The amount of money required to purchase or obtain something
2. The cost associated with acquiring a good or service is known, reflecting its value in the context of a transaction or exchange
3. An item’s monetary value, or the sum that must be paid to acquire it, determines its standing in the market or buyer's perspective

Etymology: The English word "price" arrived through Old French, which had itself taken it from Latin "pretium," meaning worth, price, money spent, wages, or reward. That range of senses is the real story: the Latin word covered both what something cost and what it was worth, and the English word carried both meanings for centuries. Middle English "price" also meant prize and excellence, so a thing's price was once closely tied to its merit rather than purely to a sum of money. The Latin root survives in a family of English words that look unrelated at first glance. "Praise," "precious," "appraise," and "appreciate" all descend from the same source, which is why a valuable object, a judgment of its quality, and the act of commending it share a common ancestor. "Depreciate," with its opposite sense of losing value, comes from the same root too. The word that now means a sum charged in a shop once sat in a cluster of words about worth in general.

Synonyms: cost, value, expense, charge, rate

Antonyms: gift, free, donation, discount, reduction