Not worth the candle

Origin of: Not worth the candle

Not worth the candle

Not worth the candle means worthless or unjustifiable because of the trouble or cost involved and dates from the 1600s. The origin is French and it first appears in Randle Cotgrave, Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues published in 1611 as le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle meaning ‘the game is not worth the candle’. Candles in those days were the equivalent of today’s electricity bills and if something was not worth the candle, it was not worth doing. By the late 1600s, it was in general use in English.