means To express warm approval or admiration of someone or something, often out loud and often deserved.

from From Old French 'preisier,' to value or set a price on, which traces back to Late Latin 'pretiare,' from 'pretium' — price, worth, reward. So 'praise' and 'price' are twins separated at birth: one paid in coin, the other in compliments. The same Latin root also gave us 'precious' and, fittingly, 'appraise.' To praise something was originally, quite literally, to appraise it — to declare what it was worth.