# What does ‘cost a pretty penny’ mean?

To “cost a pretty penny” means to be expensive. An 18th-century English idiom; 'pretty' here is an old sense meaning 'considerable'. Brewer's records this older meaning of 'pretty'.

## What it means

- An 18th-century English idiom; 'pretty' here is an old sense meaning 'considerable'. Brewer's records this older meaning of 'pretty'.

## Action steps

1. Casual comment on high prices.
2. Example: That watch cost a pretty penny.

## Sources

- [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — Internet Archive scan](https://archive.org/details/brewers-dictionary-of-phrase-and-fable)

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