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Meaning

dirt cheap

Extremely cheap even in quantity; a price as low as a clearance sale.

Example

実家の古い家具は二束三文にしかならなかった。

The old furniture from my parents' house sold for next to nothing.

Origin

It is said to come from sturdy kongō zōri sandals selling for a mere three mon for two pairs. For this reason it was also written 二足三文 in the past. An example appears in the early Edo-period hanashibon Kinō wa Kyō no Monogatari.

Sources