Cost Basis
What you paid for an investment, used to work out the taxable gain when you sell.
Cost basis is the starting number for any capital-gains calculation: the sale price minus the basis is the gain (or loss). For shares you bought, it is what you paid plus any commissions. For shares you were given, it is usually what the giver paid. For shares you inherit, it is usually reset to the market value on the date of death — the step-up in basis. In a child's UTMA, a low basis is what tax-gain harvesting is designed to raise.
"The price you paid for something, which tells you how much you made when you sell it."
Want to go deeper? Tax-gain harvesting in a UTMA.
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