worth²

adj.

Old English weorþ "significant, valuable, of value; valued, appreciated, highly thought-of, deserving, meriting; honorable, noble, of high rank; suitable for, proper, fit, capable," from Proto-Germanic *werthaz "toward, opposite," hence "equivalent, worth" (cf. Old Frisian werth, Old Norse verðr, Dutch waard, Old High German werd, German wert, Gothic wairþs "worth, worthy"), perhaps a derivative of PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus). Old Church Slavonic vredu, Lithuanian vertas "worth" are Germanic loan-words. From c.1200 as "equivalent to, of the value of, valued at; having importance equal to; equal in power to."

v.

"to come to be," now chiefly, if not solely, in the archaic expression woe worth the day, present subjunctive of Old English weorðan "to become, be, to befall," from Proto-Germanic *werthan "to become" (cf. Old Saxon, Old Dutch werthan, Old Norse verða, Old Frisian wertha, Old High German werdan, German werden, Gothic wairþan "to become"), literally "to turn into," from Proto-Germanic *werthaz "toward, opposite," perhaps a derivative of PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus).

n.

Old English weorþ "value, price, price paid; worth, worthiness, merit; equivalent value amount, monetary value," from worth (adj.). From c.1200 as "excellence, nobility."

In addition to the idioms beginning with worth

• worth one's weight in gold
• worth one's while
• worthy of the name

also see:

• for all one is worth
• game is not worth the candle
• get one's money's worth
• not worth a damn
• picture is worth a thousand words