Priceless

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈpɹaɪslɪs/

Definitions

1. Of such immense worth that it cannot be assigned a price or equaled in significance
2. Invaluable to the extent that it transcends any form of financial valuation or cannot be exchanged for currency
3. Extremely valuable or rare to the point it defies any monetary estimation ; causing great amusement or laughter due to its humor

Etymology: The surprising twist with "priceless" is that its literal sense is the reverse of its modern praise. Built from "price" and the suffix "-less", meaning "lacking, without", it originally described something that had no price, which in everyday use meant something worthless or not worth buying. Over time the sense flipped: because a thing beyond any price is beyond measure, the word came to mean the opposite, something so valuable that no sum could match it. The suffix itself is a plain and productive English tool. Attached to nouns, "-less" forms adjectives meaning "without" the base noun, as in "careless" or "homeless", so the word follows a pattern English speakers use constantly. The "price" element traces back to Latin "pretium", meaning value or reward, which passed into Old French and then into English.

Synonyms: invaluable, priceless, unquantifiable

Antonyms: worthless, cheap, valueless