premium

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
premium/ˈpriːmiəm/

▶noun (pl. premiums)

• 1 an amount paid for a contract of insurance.

• 2 a sum added to an ordinary price, charge, or other payment.

  ■ [as modifier] (of a commodity) superior and more expensive.

• 3 something given as a reward or incentive.

– phrases
at a premium

• 1 scarce and in demand.

• 2 above the usual price.

put (or place) a premium on regard as particularly valuable.

– origin C17: from L. praemium ‘booty, reward’, from prae ‘before’ + emere ‘buy, take’.