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I am a native English speaker (USA) and I just learned of the existence of "valuate". I have this terrible feeling that people have been saying it all around me my whole life and I have just assumed they were saying "evaluate".

My questions is whether or not "valuate" is in the common vernacular of most (American or British) native English speakers, or if it is a relatively obscure word. Should I be dumbfounded that I have never known this word before now?

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  • It's just the active verb of "assigning worth to something," and in my experience I only hear it very rarely, in a business setting and in writing, usually not spoken. – Patrick Hughes Jan 24 at 22:53
  • Yup, unless you are a regular reader of Dun and Bradstreet and such, it's easily missed. But you might hear it on Pawn Stars too. – Phil Sweet Jan 24 at 23:05
  • The Oxford Dictionary gives "valuate" as "North American". As a BrE speaker I have never heard it, only "evaluate". – Weather Vane Jan 25 at 0:29
  • Valuation is common in speaking about the value of something, especially where a dollar amount must be assigned, e.g. to the shares of a company not yet traded publicly. Valuate, as a verb, occupies some middle ground between value and evaluate. You could use it in a specialized context to describe the process of valuation, but I certainly wouldn’t say it’s part of every native speaker’s vocabulary. – Global Charm Jan 25 at 5:19
  • @WeatherVane But you've heard of valuation, though. – Kris Jan 25 at 7:58

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