pricey

The word "pricey" is a modern, informal English formation built upon the well-established noun "price". The core concept of "price" traces back to Latin pretium, which carried the meanings of price, value, and reward. The addition of the adjectival suffix "-y", a native English morpheme used to mean "having the quality of", directly transforms the noun into a descriptive term. Therefore, the literal construction "full of price" evolved logically into its contemporary colloquial sense of "expensive" or "costly", emphasizing the notable or high cost associated with an item.

Structure: price (cost) + y (adjective suffix) - price: From Old French pris, from Latin pretium (price, value, reward). Functions as the core noun root. - y: A productive English suffix of Old English origin, used to form adjectives meaning "characterized by" or "full of".