cheap

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Costing little money; not expensive.

   We found a cheap hotel near the station.

2. 2
   adj

   Of low quality and not worth much.

   The toy broke after one day because it was so cheap.

3. 3
   adj

   Unwilling to spend money; stingy.

   He's so cheap that he never buys anyone a drink.

4. 4
   adj

   Unfair or done in a mean, dishonest way.

   Tripping the runner was a cheap trick to win the race.

As a noun, from Middle English chep, from Old English cēap (“trade, market, value”), from Proto-West Germanic *kaup. As a verb, from Middle English chepen, from Old English ċēapian (“to buy, bargain, trade”), from Proto-West Germanic *kaupōn, from Proto-Germanic *kaupōną, a verbal derivative of *kaupô (“trader”), from Latin caupō. The adjective originated as a shortening of Middle and Early Modern English good cheap, literally “good purchase” (as in “that was good cheap”, i.e. “that was [a] good purchase”). Compare Dutch goedkoop, French bon marché. Cognates Cognate with Scots chepe (“to sell”…

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