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.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Cheap derives from Old English ceap, “bargaining” or “trade,” itself derived from Latin caupo, “small trader” or “innkeeper.” The modern sense developed through the obsolete phrase good cheap, meaning “a good bargain”; in place names such as Cheapside, cheap retains the sense “market.”

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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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary