Expensive
/ɪkˈspen.sɪv/noun
Costing a lot of money; high-priced.
Did you know?Its Latin ancestor, expensivus, comes from expendere, meaning “to weigh out” or “pay out,” so the word’s hidden history is all about money being physically counted and released.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*spend-
“to weigh, to weigh out, to pay”
Latin
Latin
expendere
“to weigh out, pay out, spend”
Late Latin
Latin
expensivus
“costly, requiring expenditure”
Old French
Old French
expensif
“costly, requiring much expense”
Middle English
English
expensive
“costly, requiring large expenditure”
Modern English
English
expensive
“costing a lot of money”