premium

premiums

Something that’s premium is much better than average — it’s excellent, in fact. A premium seat at a rock concert is right up front, with a great view of the stage.

When premium is a noun, it means the money you pay each month for your car insurance or a charge that’s added on top of a standard payment. It also means a prize or reward. As an adjective, premium implies something of superior quality that probably costs more too. Premium comes straight out of Latin, meaning “reward.” It was first used as an adjective around 1925, in the phrase “premium butter.”