Meanings
nounsunk cost (plural sunk costs)
plural sunk costs
- economicsA cost that has already been incurred and which cannot be recovered to any significant degree.
sunk costs fallacy
Translations
Arabic تَكْلِفَة غارِقَة
- تَكْلِفَة غارِقَةalready incurred costs
Chinese Mandarin 沉沒成本 /沉没成本
- 沉沒成本 /沉没成本 (chénmò chéngběn)already incurred costs
Czech utopené náklady
- utopené nákladyalready incurred costs
Finnish upotettu kustannus
- upotettu kustannusalready incurred costs
French coût irrécupérable
- coût irrécupérablealready incurred costs
German versunkene Kosten
- versunkene Kostenalready incurred costs
Hungarian elsüllyedt költség
- elsüllyedt költségalready incurred costs
Japanese 埋没費用
- 埋没費用already incurred costs
Korean 매몰비용
- 매몰비용 (maemolbiyong)already incurred costs
Polish koszt utopiony
- koszt utopionyalready incurred costs
Russian невозвра́тная затра́та
- невозвра́тная затра́та (nevozvrátnaja zatráta)already incurred costs
Spanish costo hundido, costo sumergido
- costo hundidoalready incurred costs
- costo sumergidoalready incurred costs
- costo perdidoalready incurred costs
- costo retrospectivoalready incurred costs
Cite this entry
APA
sunk cost. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sunk%20cost
MLA
“sunk cost.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sunk%20cost. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sunk cost,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sunk%20cost.
Source: sunk cost on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.