Etymograph

English

precious

Precious comes from Latin pretiōsus ‘of great value, costly, dear, precious’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *per- ‘in front’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*per-1‘in front’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pr-é-ti ~ *pr-ó-ti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pretjom1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpretium2‘value, price’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpretiōsus2‘of great value, costly, dear, precious’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500precious2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1839precious2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin pretium
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English precious
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1839, Charles Dickens: “It’s all owing to your precious caution that they…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*per-Wiktionary, Latin pretium‘in front’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pr-é-ti ~ *pr-ó-tiWiktionary, Latin pretiumreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pretjomWiktionary, Latin pretiumreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpretiumWiktionary, English precious‘value, price’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpretiōsusWiktionary, English precious‘of great value, costly, dear, precious’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500preciousWiktionary, English precious
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1839preciousWiktionary, English precious. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1839, Charles Dickens: “It’s all owing to your precious caution that they…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *per- ‘in front’

first, before, support, far, per, further, report, private, fear, opportunity, practice, port, press, primary, prime, afford, ford, pre, prior, forth, practical, pregnant, parade, par, appreciate, privilege, ferry, pirate, interpretation, porch, pardon, fare, primitive, peril, afar, pragmatic, petra, disparate, privy, prism, 150 more

through Proto-Italic *pretjom

appraise

through Latin pretium ‘value, price’

price, prize, praise, prix, depreciation, 1 more

Today it means

adj Of high value or worth.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “precious”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin pretium. 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 *per- / precious

Shirt and support for this word