worth

W4O1R1T1H4
Australia, UK/ˈwɜːθ/US/wɝθ/British, Southern, Standard/ˈwəːθ/New Zealand, Wales/ˈwøːθ/

adjective

Having a value of; proper to be exchanged for.

“This job is hardly worth the effort.”

Similar
deservingworthyvaluable
Opposite
worthlessness
OriginMiddle English worth ← Old English weorþ ← Proto-West Germanic *werþ →
Very commonScrabble 11
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Meanings

worth1

adjectiveworth (not comparable)
  1. not comparableHaving a value of; proper to be exchanged for.

    Cleanliness is a virtue worth more than others.

    3 more examples

    How much / What is your house worth? - Now it's worth half what I paid for it. So it'd sure would be worthwhile to repair before putting it for sale.

    A painting once thought to be worth thousands that is actually not worth much.

    Is it well worth visiting your hometown? -Nah, Leicester is not worth it at all.

  2. not comparableDeserving of.

    He found going to the Edinburgh Castle was worth it.

    4 more examples

    This rickety beater of a car isn’t worth repairing anymore.

    I think you’ll find my proposal worth your attention.

    I didn't think it worth complaining about his friendship not being worth having.

    Two years after their first European trophy, Atlético were well worth their second.

    2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian
  3. not comparableobsoleteexcept in ScotsValuable, worthwhile.
  4. not comparableMaking a fair equivalent of, repaying or compensating.

    This job is hardly worth the effort.

nounworth (countable and uncountable, plural worths)

plural worths

  1. countableuncountableValue.

    I’ll have a dollar's worth of candy, please.

    5 more examples

    They have proven their worths as individual fighting men and their worth as a unit.

    stocks having a worth of two million pounds; £2 million worth of stock

    Tradesmen relating to Building only, and such of them only as wrought in and about London, could do one Million worth of Work extraordinary;[…]

    1690, Sir William Petty, Political Arithmetick, Or a Discourse Concerning the Extent and Value of Lands, People [and] Buildings, page 108

    A drug dealer and money launderer who was using cryptocurrency to conceal his funds has had over £1.2 million worth of Bitcoins seized, restrained and then converted into British pounds in the first case of its kind.

    2018 July 19, “More than £1.2 million of Bitcoin seized from drug dealer”, in cps.gov.uk, London: Crown Prosecution Service, retrieved 20 Jul 2018

    The December 11 Telegraph story, which accused the Treasury of blocking plans for £30 billion worth of electrification across the rail network [...], has rung alarm bells over who is the real source of power concerning rail's development - the Department of Transport or the Treasury?

    2022 January 12, Tom Allett, “MPs concerned at Treasury's influence on rail industry”, in RAIL, number 948, page 13
  2. uncountableMerit, excellence.

    Our new director is a man whose worth is well acknowledged.

    1 more example

    Manchester United's Tom Cleverley impressed on his first competitive start and Lampard demonstrated his continued worth at international level in a performance that was little more than a stroll once England swiftly exerted their obvious authority.

    2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport
  3. uncountableAn amount that could be achieved or produced in a specified time.

    Although most modern OTDR equipment can store at least eight days' worth of data (in line with current industry standards), when it was downloaded from the Class 57s involved, it was discovered they had stored just over eight hours' worth of data.

    2020 November 18, “Network News: Lack of safety compliance a factor in Loughborough SPAD”, in Rail, page 25
  4. obsoleteuncountableHigh social standing, noble rank.

    VVhat bee they men of any worth or no? […] No my good Lord, they bee men of no great account, For they bee none but Tylers, Thatchers, Millers, and ſuch like.

    1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act I

worth2

verbworth (third-person singular simple present worths, present participle worthing, simple past worth or worthed, past participle worth or worthed or worthen)

present singular third person worths · participle present worthing · past worthed · participle past worthed · participle past worthen · alternative word

  1. obsoleteexcept in set phrases or dialectalTo be, become, betide.

    Well worth thee, me friend.

    3 more examples

    Sonne of man, prophecie and say, Thus saith the Lord God, Howle ye, woe worth the day.

    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 30:2

    For, adds our erudite Friend, the Saxon weorthan equivalent to the German werden, means to grow, to become; traces of which old vocable are still found in the North-country dialects, as, ‘What is word of him?’ meaning ‘What is become of him?’ and the like. Nay we in modern English still say, ‘Woe worth the hour.’ [i.e. Woe befall the hour]

    1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. 3, Landlord Edmund”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk)

    Woe worth the man that crosses me.

Worth3

proper nounWorth (countable and uncountable, plural Worths)

plural Worths

  1. A placename:
    1. countableuncountableA village and civil parish in Dover district, Kent (OS grid ref TR3356).
    2. countableuncountableA civil parish in Mid Sussex district, West Sussex, which formerly included the village.
    3. countableuncountableA village in Crawley borough, West Sussex (OS grid ref TQ3036).
    4. countableuncountableA river in West Yorkshire, the River Worth, which joins the River Aire at Keighley.
    5. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Turner County, Georgia.
    6. countableuncountableA village in Cook County, Illinois.
    7. countableuncountableA village in Worth County, Missouri.
    8. countableuncountableA town in Jefferson County, New York.
    9. countableuncountableA number of townships in the United States, listed under Worth Township.
    10. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of Worth County.
    11. countableuncountableA municipality in Herzogtum Lauenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
  2. countableA surname.

Synonyms & antonyms

adjective(often used ironically) worthy of being treated in a particular way

Similar
deservingworthy

adjectivehaving a specified value

Similar
valuable

nounthe quality that renders something desirable or valuable or useful

Opposite
worthlessness
Broader
quality
Also see
deservingdignityexcellencemeritpreciosityvalueworthy

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

worth · adjective, noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*wert-
  2. Proto-Germanic*werþaz“worthy, valuable”
  3. Proto-West Germanic*werþ
  4. Old Englishweorþ
  5. Middle Englishworth
  6. Englishworth

From Middle English worth, from Old English weorþ, from Proto-West Germanic *werþ, from Proto-Germanic *werþaz (“worthy, valuable”); from Proto-Indo-European *wert-. Cognate with Scots wirth (“worth”), Cimbrian bèart (“worth, value”), Dutch waard, weerd (“worth”), German wert (“worth”) (the source of Polish wart (“worth”), Ukrainian вартість (vartistʹ, “worth, value”), etc), Luxembourgish wäert (“worth”), Yiddish ווערט (vert), ווערד (verd, “worth, value”), Danish værd (“worth”), Faroese and Icelandic verður (“worth”), Norwegian Bokmål verdt (“worth”), Norwegian Nynorsk verd (“worth”), Swedish värd (“worth”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸 (wairþ, “worth, value”), Welsh gwerth (“worth, value”).

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

worth · verb

  1. Proto-Indo-European*wert-“to turn; turn out”
  2. Proto-Germanic*werþaną“to come about; happen; come into being; become”
  3. Proto-West Germanic*werþan
  4. Old Englishweorþan“to come into being; be made; become; arise; be”
  5. Middle Englishworthen
  6. Englishworth

From Middle English worthen, wurthen, werthen (“to be; exist; come into being; come into existence”), from Old English weorþan (“to come into being; be made; become; arise; be”), from Proto-West Germanic *werþan, from Proto-Germanic *werþaną (“to come about; happen; come into being; become”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn; turn out”). Cognate with Dutch worden, dated Low German warrn, German werden, Old Norse verða (Norwegian verta, Swedish varda), Latin vertere.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Worth · proper noun

  1. Old Englishworþ“enclosure”
  2. EnglishWorth

From Old English worþ (“enclosure”)

More words from Old English

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic مَاثَلَ, اِسْتَحَقَّ
  • مَاثَلَ (māṯala)equal in value to
  • اِسْتَحَقَّ (istaḥaqqa)deserving of
  • اِسْتَأْهَلَ (istaʔhala)deserving of
  • اِسْتَحَقَّ (istaḥaqqa)making a fair equivalent of
  • قِيمَة (qīma)value
Bulgarian равностоен, заслужен
  • равностоен (ravnostoen)equal in value to
  • заслужен (zaslužen)deserving of
  • заслужаващ (zaslužavašt)deserving of
  • струващ (struvašt)making a fair equivalent of
  • цена (cena)value
  • стойност (stojnost)value
  • достойнство (dostojnstvo)merit, excellence
Catalan valor
  • valorvalue
Chinese Mandarin 價值 /价值, 值
  • 價值 /价值 (jiàzhí)equal in value to
  • 值 (zhí)equal in value to
  • 值得 (zhídé)deserving of
  • 值得 (zhídé)making a fair equivalent of
  • 價值 /价值 (jiàzhí)value
Czech mající hodnotu, zasluhující si
  • mající hodnotuequal in value to
  • zasluhující sideserving of
  • rovnající semaking a fair equivalent of
  • stojícímaking a fair equivalent of
  • cenavalue
  • hodnotavalue
Danish værd, værd
  • værdequal in value to
  • værddeserving of
Dutch gelijkwaardig aan, waard
  • gelijkwaardig aanequal in value to
  • waardequal in value to
  • gewaardeerddeserving of
  • vermogenmaking a fair equivalent of
  • waardevalue
Esperanto valora, inda
  • valoraequal in value to
  • indadeserving of
  • valorovalue
Finnish arvoinen, arvoinen
  • arvoinenequal in value to
  • arvoinendeserving of
  • väärtideserving of
  • arvoinenmaking a fair equivalent of
  • arvovalue
  • kyvytmerit, excellence
  • arvomerit, excellence
  • arvowealth, property
  • omaisuuswealth, property
French équivalent, méritant
  • équivalentequal in value to
  • méritantdeserving of
  • valoir la peinedeserving of
  • valeurvalue
German Wert, verdienen
  • Wertequal in value to
  • verdienendeserving of
  • sich lohnendeserving of
  • Wertmaking a fair equivalent of
  • Wertvalue
Hindi लायक़, मूल्य
  • लायक़ (lāyaq)deserving of
  • मूल्य (mūlya)deserving of
  • योग्य (yogya)deserving of
  • क़द्र (qadra)deserving of
  • क़ीमत (qīmat)value
  • क़द्र (qadra)value
Hungarian ér, megér (i)
  • érequal in value to
  • megér (i)equal in value to
  • érdemesdeserving of
  • megér (i)deserving of
Indonesian nilai, bobot
  • nilaivalue
  • bobotvalue
Italian valore, degno
  • valoreequal in value to
  • degnodeserving of
  • meritevoledeserving of
  • valorevalue
  • meritomerit, excellence
Japanese 価値がある, 価値
  • 価値がある (kachi ga aru)deserving of
  • 価値 (kachi)value
Korean 값나가다, 값어치있다
  • 값나가다 (gamnagada)equal in value to
  • 값어치있다 (gapseochiitda)deserving of
  • 만하다 (manhada)deserving of
  • 값어치있다 (gapseochiitda)making a fair equivalent of
  • 값 (gap)value
  • 값어치 (gapseochi)value
  • 가치 (gachi)value
Norwegian Bokmål verd, verdt
  • verdequal in value to
  • verdtequal in value to
  • verddeserving of
  • verdtdeserving of
Polish wart, zasługujący (na coś)
  • wartequal in value to
  • zasługujący (na coś)deserving of
  • warty (czegoś)deserving of
  • wartośćvalue
  • cennośćvalue
Portuguese equivalente, valer a pena
  • equivalenteequal in value to
  • valer a penadeserving of
  • valorvalue
Romanian valoare
  • valoarevalue
Russian сто́ящий, сто́ить
  • сто́ящий (stójaščij)equal in value to
  • сто́ить (stóitʹ)equal in value to
  • сто́ящий (stójaščij)deserving of
  • заслу́живающий (zaslúživajuščij)deserving of
  • сто́ить (stóitʹ)deserving of
  • сто́ящий (stójaščij)making a fair equivalent of
  • сто́ить (stóitʹ)making a fair equivalent of
  • цена́ (cená)value
  • це́нность (cénnostʹ)value
  • сто́имость (stóimostʹ)value
Scottish Gaelic fiach, fiach
  • fiachequal in value to
  • fiachdeserving of
  • fiachmaking a fair equivalent of
  • fiachvalue
  • luachvalue
  • fiùvalue
Spanish valioso, que vale la pena
  • valiosoequal in value to
  • que vale la penadeserving of
  • valorvalue
  • valíavalue
  • valervalue
Swahili dhamana
  • dhamanaequal in value to
Swedish värde
  • värdevalue
Tamil மதிப்பு
  • மதிப்பு (matippu)value
Turkish layık, değerinde
  • layıkequal in value to
  • değerindeequal in value to
  • layıkdeserving of
  • değervalue
Ukrainian ва́ртий, ва́ртий
  • ва́ртий (vártyj)equal in value to
  • ва́ртий (vártyj)deserving of
  • ва́ртий (vártyj)making a fair equivalent of
  • ціна́ (ciná)value
  • ці́нність (cínnistʹ)value
  • ва́ртість (vártistʹ)value

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with worth

earthbirthPerthrebirthberthfirthgirthunearthmirthdearthBlue Earthedge of the earthinearthrun to earth
All rhymes →

Anagrams

throwwrothwhort
Cite this entry
APA

worth. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/worth

MLA

“worth.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/worth. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “worth,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/worth.

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