invaluable

Etymology

It is formed from English in- + valuable,^[2][3] from valuable in an old sense "able to be valued".^[4] Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster analyse it instead as the prefix, the verb value and the suffix -able.^[5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

That cannot be valued; beyond any valuation, priceless: 1576, in Fleming's Panoplie of Epistles.^[2][7][5]

Semantic evolution

From 1640 the word was also used in the opposite sense, "without value", formed as in- plus valuable in its usual sense,^[2][6][8] and before 1694 Tillotson used it for "too great to be estimated", a sense not found after 1705.^[2] Johnson (1755) defines it as precious above estimation.^[9]

Timeline

• 1576 – beyond valuation, priceless.^[2][7]
• 1640 – without value, worthless.^[2][8]
• before 1694 – too great to be estimated (until 1705).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of very great value or use, beyond any reckoning; priceless: Her notes proved invaluable during the audit.^[10][7][2]
2. Having no value; worthless.^[2][3]

Word family

• invaluableness
• invaluably

Related words

• evaluation
• valuation
• valuable
• value

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins