What does cheapness mean?
Cheapness is the noun form of the adjective 'cheap', denoting above all the quality of being inexpensive — the fact that something costs little money. Its most common use is neutral and economic: economists and journalists speak of the cheapness of labour, fuel, or imports as a matter of simple pricing. Yet because 'cheap' carries strong secondary connotations, the word can shade into disapproval. Applied to objects, cheapness suggests shoddiness — something made with inferior materials and likely to fall apart; applied to people, it can imply meanness or stinginess, as in the cheapness of a host who waters down the wine. The tension between these senses gives the word its expressive range: the same sentence praising the cheapness of airfares would sound insulting if it praised the cheapness of a friend's suit. Derived from Old English via words for trade and markets, cheapness remains an indispensable term wherever price is discussed.
The quality or state of being inexpensive; the fact of costing little money.
"Manufacturers were drawn to the country by the cheapness of local labour."
Neutral in economic contexts; avoid where a more positive term like 'affordability' is intended.
The quality of being shoddy or of inferior quality, or (informally) stinginess.
"The jacket's cheapness showed after just two washes."
Rarely pluralised; used only when referring to multiple distinct instances of low price or shoddiness, typically in literary or critical writing.
"The novel catalogues the cheapnesses of postwar consumer life with unflinching detail."
The word 'cheap' originally meant 'trade' or 'market' — so 'cheapness' once simply described something bought at market, before it ever meant something bought at a bargain.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cheapness
Cheapness derives from 'cheap', which comes from Old English 'cēap', meaning trade, purchase, or price, from Proto-Germanic roots relating to commerce. The Old English phrase 'cēapmann' gave us 'chapman', meaning pedlar or trader, and place names such as Cheapside in London preserve this older sense of a marketplace. The adjective sense of 'inexpensive' developed from the idea of something obtainable at good market value by around the early sixteenth century, and the noun cheapness followed as a straightforward derivation in '-ness'.
Related word forms
How cheapness is actually used
Neutral when describing prices, but strongly pejorative when applied to goods ('the cheapness of the materials') or to people's character ('the cheapness of refusing to tip'). In everyday speech, phrases like 'low cost' or 'affordability' often sound more positive than 'cheapness'.
Easily confused with cheapness
'Cheepness' would relate to 'cheep', the short faint cry of a young bird, whereas 'cheapness' concerns low price or poor quality — they are unrelated despite the near-identical spelling.