Etymograph

English

cheap

Cheap comes from Old English cēap ‘trade, market’, via Middle English good cheap ‘good purchase’, ultimately from Latin caupō ‘innkeeper, shopkeeper’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaupō1‘innkeeper’
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kaupô2‘merchant’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kaupōną3‘to buy’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kaupōn4‘to buy’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kaup5‘trade’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150cēap5‘trade’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chep5
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597cheap5

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *kaupô
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *kaupōną
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *kaupōn
  4. 4 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *kaup
  5. 5 Wiktionary, English cheap
  6. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]: “The sack that thou hast drunk me would have…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaupōWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *kaupô‘innkeeper’
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kaupôWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *kaupōną‘merchant’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kaupōnąWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *kaupōn‘to buy’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kaupōnWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *kaup‘to buy’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kaupWiktionary, English cheap‘trade’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150cēapWiktionary, English cheap‘trade’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chepWiktionary, English cheap
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597cheapWiktionary, English cheap. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]: “The sack that thou hast drunk me would have…”

The story

The adjective originated as a shortening of Middle and Early Modern English good cheap, literally “good purchase” (as in “that was good cheap”

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with cheap, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Germanic *kaupōną ‘to buy’

  • coup ← coupen ← kaupa

through Proto-West Germanic *kaupōn ‘to buy, trade’

  • cope ← copen ← copen ← cōpon

2 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adj Low or reduced in price.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cheap”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *kaupô, Proto-Germanic *kaupōną, Proto-West Germanic *kaupōn, Proto-West Germanic *kaup. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin caupō / cheap