Etymologically
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premium

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 04:11. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpriː.mi.əm/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin praemium (“booty; profit, reward”),[2][3][4][5] from prae “before” (see pre-) and emere “to buy”, originally “to take”,[2][3][4] from the PIE root Proto-Indo-European *em- (“to take, distribute”).[2] Compare redeem and pre-empt.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A reward or prize given for a specific act: 1601 in Barnhart, the OED and MWU.[3][7][5]

Semantic evolution

The amount paid for an insurance contract is from 1622 in the OED and the 1660s in Etymonline, which takes it from Italian premio;[7][2] Barnhart cites Blount's Glossographia (1656).[3] A sum added to a price, wage or interest is from 1695,[7] and a fee paid for instruction in a trade from 1765.[7][4] At a premium, at more than the usual value, is from 1828,[3][2][7] and to put a premium on something from 1907.[7] The adjective, of superior quality, is first attested in 1925, of butter.[2] Something given free or cheaply to encourage buying is a later commercial sense.[8][9]

Timeline

  • 1601 – a reward, prize.[7][3]
  • 1622 – an insurance premium.[7]
  • 1695 – a sum added to a price or wage.[7]
  • 1765 – an apprentice's fee.[7]
  • 1828 – at a premium.[3][7]
  • 1925 – superior in quality.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An amount paid regularly for an insurance policy.
  2. An amount paid in addition to the usual price, wage or rate; a bonus.
  3. Something offered free or cheaply as an inducement to buy.
  4. A prize or award.
  5. (at a premium) Scarce and highly valued; above the usual price.

Adjective

  1. Of superior quality or value: premium beer.

Word family

  • nonpremium
  • superpremium

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins