What does misprice mean?
Misprice means to assign an incorrect price to something. The error may make the item too expensive or, as in promotional pricing, too cheap. Although the word can apply broadly to retail goods and services, it is especially common in finance and economics, where it describes the incorrect valuation of securities, assets, or market instruments. Mispricing can result from stale information, faulty models, misunderstood costs, or human error, and its consequences may scale with the number of transactions involved. The verb has a negative connotation because it identifies a discrepancy that should be corrected. Its prefix, “mis-,” means “wrongly,” making it useful whenever precision about pricing is important. The term is less common in ordinary conversation than straightforward expressions such as “price too high,” “price too low,” or “put the wrong price on.”
verbTo price something incorrectly, especially by assigning a price that is too high or too low. It is most often used in business, finance, and commerce.
- To set or assign an incorrect price to a product, service, asset, or financial instrument.
"The retailer mispriced the online offer and sold thousands of items below cost."
"An outdated exchange rate caused the exporter to misprice its products in the European market."
"Analysts said the fund had mispriced the bonds because it valued them using an outdated credit rating."
A tiny pricing error can become enormous when applied across thousands of products or financial transactions.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of misprice
“Misprice” is an English formation combining the prefix “mis-,” meaning “wrongly,” with “price.” “Price” came into English through Old French “pris,” ultimately from Latin “pretium,” a word associated with payment, value, and purchase. The English compound follows the productive “mis-” pattern found in words such as “misjudge” and “misinterpret.”
Related word forms
How misprice is actually used
This is a relatively uncommon, chiefly business and finance term. It is more formal than everyday alternatives such as 'set the wrong price' and can describe either overpricing or underpricing.
Easily confused with misprice
Mispricing means assigning an incorrect price, whereas a misprint is an error in printed text or an image.
Mispricing concerns the amount charged for something, while misplay means to play a game or perform a role badly.