Etymologically
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bid

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Pronunciation

Etymology

The modern verb combines two Old English verbs that became confused in early Middle English.[2][3][4] The senses “ask, command” and “bid farewell” are inherited from Middle English bidden, inherited from Old English biddan (“to ask, entreat, pray”),[2][4] from Proto-Germanic *bidjaną,[2][4] also the source of German bitten “to ask” and Gothic bidjan;[2][3] Kluge and Watkins derive it from the root of bead, Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰedʰ- (“to ask, pray”).[2] The senses “offer” and “announce” are from Old English bēodan “to offer, proclaim”,[2][3][5] from Proto-Germanic *beudaną, also the source of German bieten “to offer”,[2][4] and related to bode.[2] Old English biddan had already taken on the sense “command”, and the similar Middle English forms helped to merge them.[3] The noun is from the verb.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English biddan is in Beowulf, about 725.[4] In Middle English bidden “to beg, request” is recorded before 1121.[4] To offer a price is from about 1200 in the OED.[6]

Semantic evolution

To offer battle, to challenge, is from before 1300.[6] The noun, an offer of a price, is from 1788,[2][4][6] and in card games, a proposal to win a number of tricks, from 1880.[2] An attempt to win or achieve something, as in a bid for power, is a later noun sense.[7][8] The past tense bade and past participle bidden belong to the old senses “command” and “greet”, while bid is used for offering.[3][8]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English biddan, in Beowulf.[4]
  • c. 1200 – to offer a price.[6]
  • 1788 – the noun, an offer.[2][6]
  • 1880 – in card games.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To offer an amount of money for something, especially at an auction.
  2. To offer to do work for a stated price; to tender.
  3. To try to get or win something.
  4. (cards) To state how many tricks one expects to take.
  5. (literary; past bade, bidden) To command someone, or to say a greeting: bid farewell.

Noun

  1. An offer of a price, especially at an auction.
  2. An attempt to get or achieve something: a bid for freedom.
  3. (cards) A statement of how many tricks one will try to win.

Word family

  • bidder
  • forbid
  • biddable
  • counterbid
  • outbid
  • overbid
  • prebid
  • rebid
  • bead
  • bode

Usage notes

On prescriptions, b.i.d. is an abbreviation of Latin bis in die, twice a day.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster