Valuable

How to spell valuable

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce valuable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does valuable mean?

1. adjectiveWorth a great deal of money, or extremely useful and important.
2. nounA possession worth a significant amount of money, often kept secure.

Valuable in a sentence

• adjective

  The antique clock turned out to be more valuable than she expected.

• noun

  The hotel safe is the place to store any small valuable during your stay.

• adjective

  His mentor gave him some genuinely valuable advice about saving for retirement.

• noun

  She insured every valuable in the house after the break-in.

Where does valuable come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grew out of the verb 'value', which English took from the Old French 'value', the feminine past participle of 'valoir', meaning 'to be worth'. Behind the French lay the Latin verb 'valere', which literally meant 'to be strong' or 'to be well', and from that idea of strength came the sense of being worth something. The familiar parting wish 'vale' (farewell, literally 'be well') and the words 'valid' and 'valour' all descend from the very same Latin root. By the late 1500s English had attached the suffix '-able', meaning 'worthy of', to produce 'valuable', describing anything worth a great deal. The spelling trap sits in the middle: the 'u' of the root 'valu-' is kept before '-able', so writers must remember it is 'valu' plus 'able', not 'valable'.

How the word is built

• valu- (from Latin valere: to be worth)
• -able (capable of, worthy of)