From Middle English worth, from Old English weorþ, from Proto-West Germanic *werþ, from Proto-Germanic *werþaz (“worthy, valuable”); from Proto-Indo-European *wert-. Cognate with Scots wirth (“worth”), Cimbrian bèart (“worth, value”), Dutch waard, weerd (“worth”), German wert (“worth”) (the source of Polish wart (“worth”), Ukrainian вартість (vartistʹ, “worth, value”), etc), Luxembourgish wäert (“worth”), Yiddish ווערט (vert), ווערד (verd, “worth, value”), Danish værd (“worth”), Faroese and Icelandic verður (“worth”), Norwegian Bokmål verdt (“worth”), Norwegian Nynorsk verd (“worth”), Swedish värd (“worth”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸 (wairþ, “worth, value”), Welsh gwerth (“worth, value”).
1
Having a value of; proper to be exchanged for.
How much / What is your house worth? - Now it's worth half what I paid for it. So it'd sure would be worthwhile to repair before putting it for sale.
Cleanliness is a virtue worth more than others.
2 more examples
A painting once thought to be worth thousands that is actually not worth much.
Is it well worth visiting your hometown? -Nah, Leicester is not worth it at all.
2
Deserving of.
This rickety beater of a car isn’t worth repairing anymore.
He found going to the Edinburgh Castle was worth it.
3 more examples
I think you’ll find my proposal worth your attention.
I didn't think it worth complaining about his friendship not being worth having.
Two years after their first European trophy, Atlético were well worth their second.2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian:
From Middle English worth, from Old English weorþ, from Proto-West Germanic *werþ, from Proto-Germanic *werþaz (“worthy, valuable”); from Proto-Indo-European *wert-. Cognate with Scots wirth (“worth”), Cimbrian bèart (“worth, value”), Dutch waard, weerd (“worth”), German wert (“worth”) (the source of Polish wart (“worth”), Ukrainian вартість (vartistʹ, “worth, value”), etc), Luxembourgish wäert (“worth”), Yiddish ווערט (vert), ווערד (verd, “worth, value”), Danish værd (“worth”), Faroese and Icelandic verður (“worth”), Norwegian Bokmål verdt (“worth”), Norwegian Nynorsk verd (“worth”), Swedish värd (“worth”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸 (wairþ, “worth, value”), Welsh gwerth (“worth, value”).
1
Value.
I’ll have a dollar's worth of candy, please.
They have proven their worths as individual fighting men and their worth as a unit.
4 more examples
stocks having a worth of two million pounds; £2 million worth of stock
Tradesmen relating to Building only, and such of them only as wrought in and about London, could do one Million worth of Work extraordinary;[…]1690, Sir William Petty, Political Arithmetick, Or a Discourse Concerning the Extent and Value of Lands, People [and] Buildings, page 108:
A drug dealer and money launderer who was using cryptocurrency to conceal his funds has had over £1.2 million worth of Bitcoins seized, restrained and then converted into British pounds in the first case of its kind.2018 July 19, “More than £1.2 million of Bitcoin seized from drug dealer”, in cps.gov.uk, London: Crown Prosecution Service, retrieved 20 Jul 2018:
The December 11 Telegraph story, which accused the Treasury of blocking plans for £30 billion worth of electrification across the rail network [...], has rung alarm bells over who is the real source of power concerning rail's development - the Department of Transport or the Treasury?2022 January 12, Tom Allett, “MPs concerned at Treasury's influence on rail industry”, in RAIL, number 948, page 13:
2
Merit, excellence.
Our new director is a man whose worth is well acknowledged.
Manchester United's Tom Cleverley impressed on his first competitive start and Lampard demonstrated his continued worth at international level in a performance that was little more than a stroll once England swiftly exerted their obvious authority.2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport:
3
An amount that could be achieved or produced in a specified time.
Although most modern OTDR equipment can store at least eight days' worth of data (in line with current industry standards), when it was downloaded from the Class 57s involved, it was discovered they had stored just over eight hours' worth of data.2020 November 18, “Network News: Lack of safety compliance a factor in Loughborough SPAD”, in Rail, page 25:
VVhat bee they men of any worth or no? […] No my good Lord, they bee men of no great account, For they bee none but Tylers, Thatchers, Millers, and ſuch like.1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act I:
Etymology From Middle English worthen, wurthen, werthen (“to be; exist; come into being; come into existence”), from Old English weorþan (“to come into being; be made; become; arise; be”), from Proto-West Germanic *werþan, from Proto-Germanic *werþaną (“to come about; happen; come into being; become”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn; turn out”). Cognate with Dutch worden, dated Low German warrn, German werden, Old Norse verða (Norwegian verta, Swedish varda), Latin vertere.
Sonne of man, prophecie and say, Thus saith the Lord God, Howle ye, woe worth the day.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 30:2:
For, adds our erudite Friend, the Saxon weorthan equivalent to the German werden, means to grow, to become; traces of which old vocable are still found in the North-country dialects, as, ‘What is word of him?’ meaning ‘What is become of him?’ and the like. Nay we in modern English still say, ‘Woe worth the hour.’ [i.e. Woe befall the hour]1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. 3, Landlord Edmund”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):