Etymology

unvaluable

U1N1V4A1L1U1A1B3L1E1

Today it means: Not valuable; having little value. Full definition →

First used 17th c.English valuable ← Middle English un- ← Old English un-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Germanic*un-
  4. Proto-West Germanic*un-
  5. Old Englishun-
  6. Middle Englishun-
  7. Englishun-
  8. Englishvalue
  9. Englishvaluable
  10. English todayunvaluable

From un- + valuable. Piecewise doublet of invaluable.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 17th c. Not valuable; having little value.
  • 16th–18th c. Invaluable; beyond price.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.