precious

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈpɹɛʃ.əs/ See IPA manual

Freq #2344

Meanings

1

adj
Very valuable or worth a lot of money.

Diamonds and rubies are precious stones.
2

adj
Greatly loved and important to someone.

These photographs are precious to me.
3

adv
Very (used to stress how little there is of something).

There is precious little time left before the deadline.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · very valuable or worth a... valuable invaluable priceless

2 adj · greatly loved and important... dear treasured

Word family

Forms preciouslypreciousness

Derived forms eight-preciousnon-preciousnonpreciousoverpreciouspreciouslypreciousnesssemi-precioussemipreciousunprecious

Related forms appraise appreciate depreciate praisepreciosityprice

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

precious stone
a rare, valuable mineral used in jewellery, such as a diamond or ruby

Adjective + noun

Proverbs (1)

See all

Time is money
Matching variant: Time is precious

Simplified etymology

Precious entered English in the Middle English period and ultimately goes back to the same Latin source as price, a word meaning “price.”

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English precious, borrowed from Old French precios (“valuable, costly, precious, beloved, also affected, finical”), from Latin pretiōsus (“of great value, costly, dear, precious”), from pretium (“value, price”); see price.

precious Middle English pretiōsus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# precious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** adj, adv
**IPA (US):** /ˈpɹɛʃ.əs/
**Frequency rank:** 2344

## Meanings
1. Very valuable or worth a lot of money.
2. Greatly loved and important to someone.
3. Very (used to stress how little there is of something).

## Examples
- Diamonds and rubies are precious stones.
- These photographs are precious to me.
- There is precious little time left before the deadline.

## Derived Forms
- eight-precious
- non-precious
- nonprecious
- overprecious
- preciously
- preciousness
- semi-precious
- semiprecious
- unprecious

## Related Forms
- appraise
- appreciate
- depreciate
- praise
- preciosity
- price

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: precious
- Root: pretiōsus

## Etymology
Inherited from Middle English precious, borrowed from Old French precios (“valuable, costly, precious, beloved, also affected, finical”), from Latin pretiōsus (“of great value, costly, dear, precious”), from pretium (“value, price”); see price.

## AI Etymology
Precious is inherited from Middle English precious, borrowed from Old French precios (“valuable, costly, precious, beloved, also affected, finical”), from Latin pretiōsus (“of great value, costly, dear, precious”), from pretium (“value, price”); see price. In present-day English it covers very valuable or worth a lot of money, greatly loved and important to someone, and very (used to stress how little there is of something). The wider family includes derived forms such as eight-precious, non-precious, nonprecious, overprecious, preciously and related forms such as appraise, appreciate, depreciate, praise.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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