cost

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /kɒst/, US /kɑːst/^[1]

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English cost, borrowed from Old French cost (“cost, outlay; hardship”) (also coust, modern coût),^[2][3][4] from the verb coster (“to cost”),^[3][5][6] which comes from Latin cōnstāre (“to stand together, stand firm, be fixed; to stand at a price”),^[3][2][7] through a Romance form *costāre.^[8][4] Latin cōnstāre is formed from con- (“together”) and stāre (“to stand”),^[3][2] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *sta- (“to stand, be firm”).^[2] Etymonline compares the modern idiom of a thing that “stands at” a price.^[2] The English verb is inherited from Middle English costen, from Old French coster.^[3][5] Barnhart notes that the word spread through the Romance languages (Spanish costar, Italian costare) and was widely borrowed into Germanic, Slavic and Celtic.^[3][6] It is related to constant, stand and state.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Price, value: about 1200,^[2][3] or before 1300 according to the OED, for what must be given to obtain something.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The sense “outlay of money, expenditure” is from about 1300^[2] or 1386.^[9] Expenses of litigation have been costs since 1340,^[9][10] and expenditure of time or labour, or what is lost in gaining something, is from about 1300.^[9] At one's cost is from 1297.^[9] The verb meant “to buy” in Cursor Mundi,^[3] and “to involve great expenditure” about 1378, in a version of Piers Plowman;^[3] “to be the price of” is from the late 14th century.^[2][9] “To cause to lose or suffer”, with a personal object, is from 1377.^[9] Cost the earth and cost money are from 1667.^[9] The original price of a thing (at cost) is from 1873,^[9] and cost of living from 1896.^[9] The verb “to estimate the cost of”, with the past tense costed, is a later development.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – price, value.^[2][3]
• 1297 – at one's cost.^[9]
• c. 1300 – expenditure of time or labour.^[9]
• 1340 – legal costs.^[9]
• 1377 – verb, to cause to lose.^[9]
• c. 1378 – verb, to involve great expense (Piers Plowman).^[3]
• 1667 – cost the earth.^[9]
• 1873 – at cost.^[9]
• 1896 – cost of living.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An amount paid or required for something; a price.
2. The time, effort or loss needed to achieve something.
3. (costs) (law) The expenses of a lawsuit, often paid by the losing party.

Verb

1. To have as a price.
2. To cause to lose or suffer: it cost him his job.
3. To estimate the cost of; past tense costed.

Word family

• costless
• costlessness
• costlessly
• cost-benefit
• cost-effective
• cost-efficient
• costly
• cost-push

Related words

• constant
• stand
• state
• coast

Usage notes

Two rare words share the spelling: cost, the herb costmary, from Latin costum and Greek kóstos,^[4][9] and cost in heraldry, a narrow band, from Old French coste, “rib”.^[4][9]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)