English Explanatory Dictionary

forsake

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to renounce (someone or something).
  2. To decline or refuse (something offered).
  3. To avoid or shun (someone or something).
  4. To cause disappointment to; to be insufficient for (someone or something).

Pronunciation

/fɔːˈseɪk/ /fə-/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-forsake.wav /fɔɹˈseɪk/

Word forms

forsake forsakes forsaking forsook forsaken no-table-tags glossary forsakest forsookest forsaketh

Etymology

From Middle English forsaken (“to abandon, desert, repudiate, withdraw allegiance from”), from Old English forsacan (“to oppose; to give up, renounce; to decline, refuse”), from Proto-West Germanic *frasakan (“to forsake, renounce”). By surface analysis, for- + sake. Cognates include Saterland Frisian ferseeke (“to deny, refuse”), West Frisian fersaakje, Dutch verzaken (“to renounce, forsake”), Middle High German versachen (“to deny”), Danish forsage (“to give up”), Swedish försaka (“to be without, give up”), Norwegian forsake (“to give up, renounce”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌰𐌽 (sakan, “to quarrel; to rebuke”), .

Derived words

forsaken forsakenly forsakenness forsaker forsaking godforsaken godforsakenly godforsakenness unforsaken
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