rhizoverbBeta
DictionaryRoot: pretium
Latin

pretium

price, value, or reward

Forms

  • pretium
  • preti- — Used before other endings.
  • price — A development through French.

Origin

An inherited Latin word with older Indo-European connections to exchange or value.

Note

What something costs and what it is worth need not be the same, but both belong to this family.

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Two successive views of the same car show depreciation: a pristine, nearly unused car with a higher price tag, followed by the visibly older, high-mileage car with a lower price tag.
verb

depreciate

dih-PREE-shee-ayt/dɪˈpriːʃieɪt/

To reduce the value attributed to something.

Etymology
deLatindown, away; removal
+preciLatinprice, value, or reward
+ateLatinhaving or having undergone something

The pieces express bringing a price down. The word first meant undervaluing something, then actually lowering its value, and eventually falling in value—the sense used for assets that lose worth over time.

Full entry

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