-worth | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

121 entries found.

Old English weorþ "value, price, price paid; worth, worthiness, merit; equivalent value amount, monetary value," from worth (adj.). From c. 1200 as "excellence, nobility."

self-worth (n.)

also self worth, "worth inherent in oneself," 1650s, from self + worth (n.).

worth (v.)

"to come to be," now chiefly, if not solely, in the archaic expression woe worth the day, present subjunctive of Old English weorðan "to become, be, to befall," from Proto-Germanic *werthan "to become" (source also of Old Saxon, Old Dutch werthan, Old Norse verða, Old Frisian wertha, Old High German werdan, German werden, Gothic wairþan "to become"), literally "to turn into," from PIE root *wer- (2) "to turn, bend."

worthless (adj.)

1580s, from worth (n.) + -less. Related: Worthlessly; worthlessness.

worthwhile (adj.)

by 1660s, worth while (one-word form from late 19c.), from worth (adj.) + while (n.). Phrase worth the while is attested from late 14c.

worth (adj.)

Old English weorþ "significant, valuable, of value; valued, appreciated, highly thought-of, deserving, meriting; honorable, noble, of high rank; suitable for, proper, fit, capable," from Proto-Germanic *wertha- "toward, opposite," hence "equivalent, worth" (source also of Old Frisian werth, Old Norse verðr, Dutch waard, Old High German werd, German wert, Gothic wairþs "worth, worthy"), which is of uncertain origin. Perhaps a derivative of PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," from root *wer- (2) "to turn, bend." Old Church Slavonic vredu, Lithuanian vertas "worth" are considered to be Germanic loan-words. From c. 1200 as "equivalent to, of the value of, valued at; having importance equal to; equal in power to."

pennyworth (n.)

"goods costing a penny, as much as can be bought for a penny," Middle English peni-worth, from Old English peningwurð; see penny + worth (adj.). Figurative of "small amount" from mid-14c. Also generally, "value for the money given" (mid-14c.).

worship (n.)

Old English worðscip, wurðscip (Anglian), weorðscipe (West Saxon) "condition of being worthy, dignity, glory, distinction, honor, renown," from weorð "worthy" (see worth) + -scipe (see -ship). Sense of "reverence paid to a supernatural or divine being" is first recorded c. 1300. The original sense is preserved in the title worshipful "honorable" (c. 1300).

worthy (adj.)

mid-13c., "having merit," from worth (n.) + -y (2). Old English had weorþful in this sense. Attested from late 14c. as a noun meaning "person of merit" (especially in Nine Worthies, famous men of history and legend: Joshua, David, Judas Maccabæus, Hector, Alexander, Julius Cæsar, Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon -- three Jews, three gentiles, three Christians). Related: Worthily; worthiness.

stalwart (adj.)

late 14c., "resolute, determined," Scottish variant of stalworth, from Old English stælwierðe "good, serviceable," probably a contracted compound of staðol "base, foundation, support; stability, security" (from Proto-Germanic *stathlaz, from PIE root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm") + wierðe "good, excellent, worthy" (see worth). Another theory traces the first element of stælwierðe to Old English stæl "place," from Proto-Germanic *stælaz.

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