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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

English

worth

/ˈwɜːθ/
Having a value of; proper to be exchanged for.

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English worth, from Old English weorþ, from Proto-West Germanic *werþ, from Proto-Germanic *werþaz (“worthy, valuable”); from Proto-Indo-European *wert-.

    Cognate with Scots wirth (“worth”), Cimbrian bèart (“worth, value”), Dutch waard, weerd (“worth”), German wert (“worth”) (the source of Polish wart (“worth”), Ukrainian вартість (vartistʹ, “worth, value”), etc), Luxembourgish wäert (“worth”), Yiddish ווערט (vert), ווערד (verd, “worth, value”), Danish værd (“worth”), Faroese and Icelandic verður (“worth”), Norwegian Bokmål verdt (“worth”), Norwegian Nynorsk verd (“worth”), Swedish värd (“worth”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸 (wairþ, “worth, value”), Welsh gwerth (“worth, value”).

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English worthen, wurthen, werthen (“to be; exist; come into being; come into existence”), from Old English weorþan (“to come into being; be made; become; arise; be”), from Proto-West Germanic *werþan, from Proto-Germanic *werþaną (“to come about; happen; come into being; become”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn; turn out”).

    Cognate with Dutch worden, dated Low German warrn, German werden, Old Norse verða (Norwegian verta, Swedish varda), Latin vertere.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • rootProto-Indo-European*wert- “to turn, wind”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishworth
      • inheritedOld Englishweorþ
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*werþ
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*werþaz “worthy, valuable”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishworthen
      • inheritedOld Englishweorþan “to come into being; be made; become; arise; be”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*werþan
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*werþaną “to come about; happen; come into being; become”

    Related: Scots wirth, Cimbrian bèart, Dutch waard, German wert, Polish wart, Ukrainian вартість, Luxembourgish wäert, Yiddish ווערט, Danish værd, Icelandic verður, Norwegian Bokmål verdt, Norwegian Nynorsk verd, Swedish värd, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸, Welsh gwerth, Dutch worden, Low German warrn, German werden, Old Norse verða, Norwegian verta, Swedish varda

    Meanings

    adj
    1. Having a value of; proper to be exchanged for.
    2. Deserving of.
    3. Valuable, worthwhile.
    4. Making a fair equivalent of, repaying or compensating.
    noun
    1. Value.
    2. Merit, excellence.
    3. An amount that could be achieved or produced in a specified time.
    4. High social standing, noble rank.
    verb
    1. To be, become, betide.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: worth