English
expensive
Expensive comes from Latin *expēnsīvus, from expendō ‘to weigh out, pay out’, from ex- + pendō ‘to weigh’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- ‘to stretch’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pend-1‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)péndeti1reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pendō1‘to hang’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpendō1‘weigh’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpendō2‘to weigh out’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*expēnsīvus2reconstructed
- Englishearliest quotation 1748expensive2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin expendo
- 2 Wiktionary, English expensive
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1748, Samuel Richardson, Letter IV. Miſs Clarissa Harlowe, To Miſs Howe.: “[…] And that he looked into his own affairs,…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pend-Wiktionary, Latin expendo‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)péndetiWiktionary, Latin expendoreconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pendōWiktionary, Latin expendo‘to hang’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpendōWiktionary, Latin expendo‘weigh’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpendōWiktionary, English expensive‘to weigh out’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*expēnsīvusWiktionary, English expensivereconstructed
- Englishearliest quotation 1748expensiveWiktionary, English expensive. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1748, Samuel Richardson, Letter IV. Miſs Clarissa Harlowe, To Miſs Howe.: “[…] And that he looked into his own affairs,…”
The story
In the sense of "high-priced" has largely displaced dear.
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with expensive, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- ‘to stretch’
through Proto-Italic *pendō ‘to hang, put in a hanging position’
- suspension ← suspensiōnem ← suspendēre ← pendere
through Latin pendō ‘weigh, weigh out’
- spending ← spendyng ← spendung ← spendan ← *spendōn
- compensation ← compensacioun ← compensacion ← compēnsātiō ← compēnsō
- pension ← pencioun ← pencione ← pēnsiō
- compensate ← compēnsātus ← compensō ← pēnsō
- suspend ← sospendre ← suspendo
63 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Having a high price or cost.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “expensive”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin expendo. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- / expensive