cheap – Wiktionary

English

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Alternative forms

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• chapchop

  (

  dialectal

  )

Etymology

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From Middle English cheep, chepe/chepen, chep, cheap/cheapien, chapien, from Old English cēap (“cattle, purchase, sale”), ċēapian (“to bargain, chaffer, trade”), from Proto-West Germanic *kaup (“trade, purchase”), *kaupōn (“to buy, trade”), from Proto-Germanic *kaupōną, *kaupijaną (“to buy, trade”), *kaupô (“inn-keeper, merchant”), from Latin caupō (“tradesman, innkeeper”). See also chapman. For sense evolution to “inexpensive,” compare bargain or French bon marché.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cheap (countable and uncountable, plural cheaps)

Adjective

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cheap (comparative cheaper, superlative cheapest)

Synonyms

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• (

  low/reduced in price

  )

  :

  bargaininexpensivefrugalno-frillspriced-offnickel

• (

  of poor quality

  )

  :

  flimsynickel

Antonyms

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• (

  low or reduced in price

  )

  :

  dearexpensive, high-priced, pricey

• (

  of low value

  )

  :

  preciousvaluable

• (

  financial markets

  )

  :

  rich

Derived terms

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Translations

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slang: underhand or unfair in game

• Bulgarian: е́втин(bg)

  (

  évtin

  )

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 卑鄙(zh)

  (

  bēi bì

  )

• Danish: billig(da)
• Finnish: halpamainen(fi)raukkamainen(fi)
• Macedonian: евтин

  m

  (

  evtin

  )

• Polish: tani(pl)

  m

• Swedish: billig(sv)

finance: trading at a low price level

• Finnish: halpa(fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also

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Verb

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cheap (third-person singular simple present cheaps, present participle cheaping, simple past and past participle cheaped)

1. (

   intransitive

   ,

   obsolete

   )

   To trade; traffic; bargain; chaffer; ask the price of goods; cheapen goods.

2. (

   transitive

   ,

   obsolete

   )

   To bargain for; chaffer for; ask the price of; offer a price for; cheapen.

3. (

   transitive

   ,

   obsolete

   )

   To buy; purchase.

4. (

   transitive

   ,

   obsolete

   )

   To sell.

Usage notes

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Use of cheap as a verb has been surpassed by cheapen.

Derived terms

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Adverb

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cheap (comparative more cheap, superlative most cheap)

1. Cheaply.
   • March 24 1658, John Milton, letter to Emeric Bigot

     I need not request you to purchase them as cheap as possible

Anagrams

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Chinese

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Etymology

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From English cheap.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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cheap

1. (

   Cantonese

   ,

   of people

   of people

   )

   stingy; mean; excessively frugal

2. (

   Cantonese

   )

   cheaplow-priced; bearing poor quality

References

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Irish

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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cheap m

1. ceap

   Lenited form of

Verb

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cheap