c. 1300, preisen, "to express admiration of, commend, adulate, flatter" (someone or something), from Old French preisier, variant of prisier "to praise, value," from Late Latin preciare, earlier pretiare "to price, value, prize," from Latin pretium "reward, prize, value, worth," from PIE *pret-yo-, suffixed form of *pret-, extended form of root *per- (5) "to traffic in, to sell."

Specifically with God as an object from late 14c. Related: Praised; praising. It replaced Old English lof, hreþ.

The earliest sense in English was the classical one, "to assess, set a price or value on" (mid-13c.); also "to prize, hold in high esteem" (late 13c.). Now a verb in most Germanic languages (German preis, Danish pris, etc.), but only in English is it differentiated in form from its doublets price (q.v.) and prize, which represent variants of the French word with the vowel leveled but are closer in sense to the Latin originals.

"that which is obtained or offered as the reward of exertion or contest; reward or symbol of victory," spelling alteration of Middle English prise (c. 1300 in this sense), from Old French pris "price, value, worth; reward" (see price (n.)). Figuratively, "anything worth striving for," from c. 1600. As an adjective, "worthy of a prize," from 1803. The spelling with -z- is from late 16c. Prize-fighter is from 1703; prize-fight (one for a prize) from 1730.

c. 1400, appreisen, "to set a value on," from stem of Old French aprisier "appraise, set a price on" (14c., Modern French apprécier), from Late Latin appretiare "value, estimate," from ad "to" (see ad-) + pretium "price" (see price (n.)). The original English spelling, also apprize, was altered by influence of praise. Related: Appraised; appraising.

1650s, "to esteem or value highly," from Late Latin appretiatus, past participle of appretiare "to set a price to," from ad "to" (see ad-) + pretium "price" (see price (n.)). The meaning "to rise in value" (intransitive) is by 1787; the sense of "be fully conscious of" is by 1833. "Appreciate is to set a just value on; it implies the use of wise judgment or delicate perception" [Century Dictionary]. Related: Appreciated; appreciating.

mid-15c., "to undervalue, under-rate," from Latin depretiatus, past participle of depretiare "to lower the price of, undervalue," from de "down" (see de-) + pretium "price" (see price (n.)). From 1640s in transitive sense of "lessen the value of, to lower in value." Intransitive sense of "to fall in value, become of less worth" is from 1790. Related: Depreciated; depreciating.

1720, from half + price (n.).

"to price (something) excessively high," c. 1600, from over- + price (v.). Related: Overpriced; overpricing. Middle English had overdere (adv.) "too expensively, at too great cost" (c. 1300).

mid-13c., "valuable, of great worth or price, costly," from Old French precios "precious, costly, honorable, of great worth" (11c., Modern French précieux), from Latin pretiosus "costly, valuable," from pretium "value, worth, price" (see price (n.)).

The meaning "over-refined, fastidious" in English is by late 14c. From 16c. through 18c. it also had a secondary ironic (inverted) sense of "worthless." Precious metals (1776) "gold and silver (and sometimes platinum)" are those that are rare and costly enough to be used as a standard of value and abundant enough to be used for coinage. Related: Preciously; preciousness.

"having a value beyond price, invaluable," 1590s, from price (n.) + -less. Compare worthless, which has the opposite sense. Colloquial sense of "delightful, amusing" is attested from 1907. Related: Pricelessly; pricelessness.

"tag or ticket affixed to something and indicating its price," 1878, from price (n.) + tag (n.).