oncost

O1N1C3O1S1T1

noun

Additional costs; extra expenses.

OriginMiddle English uncost ← Middle Dutch oncost →
Scrabble 8
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Meanings

nounoncost (plural oncosts)

plural oncosts

  1. Additional costs; extra expenses.
  2. businessOverhead (expense)
  3. coal-miningThe cost of upkeep, making and maintaining shafts, roads, pumping, etc.
  4. ScotlandUKdialectalThe indirect expenditure incurred for the purpose of increasing the productive power of organised labour.

Origin

  1. Middle Dutchoncost“expenses, overhead”
  2. Middle Englishuncost“additional expense”
  3. Englishoncost

From on- + cost, or from Middle English uncost (“additional expense”), from Middle Dutch oncost (“expenses, overhead”) (Modern Dutch onkost), equivalent to un- + cost. Cognate with German Unkosten (“expenses”).

More words from Middle English, Middle Dutch

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Costoncontosnostoc
Cite this entry
APA

oncost. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oncost

MLA

“oncost.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oncost. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “oncost,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oncost.

Source: oncost on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.