care

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kɛə/ (UK); /kɛr/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English care, inherited from Old English caru (“sorrow, anxiety, grief”), also cearu,^[2][3] and the verb is from Old English carian, cearian (“to be anxious, to grieve”).^[2][3][4] Both go back to Proto-Germanic *karō (“lament; grief, care”),^[3][2] whose descendants include Old Saxon kara (“sorrow”), Old High German chara (“wail, lament”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍂𐌰 (kara, “sorrow, trouble, care”) and the first element of German Karfreitag (“Good Friday”).^[2][3][5] Barnhart and Klein connect it with a root meaning “to cry out”, seen in Latin garrīre (“to chatter”), Ancient Greek γῆρυς (gêrus, “voice”) and Old Irish gáir (“cry, outcry”);^[2][5][6] if so, the sense went from “cry” to “lament” to “grief”.^[3] Despite the likeness it is not related to Latin cūra (“care”).^[3][7][2] The same Germanic word gave the sense “scanty, stingy” in Dutch karig and German karg,^[3][5] and English chary is related.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Sorrow, anxiety, grief (Old English; about 725 in Beowulf).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, stresses that the primary sense was inward grief, while Latin cura meant pains taken over something.^[3] Weekley compares the later sense “close attention” with take pains.^[8] Serious attention and heed are recorded in Old English,^[9][4] and the sense “charge, protective oversight” from about 1400, which is the sense of care of on letters (1840).^[3] The verb's negative uses came first: not care is from the mid-13th century, and positive senses such as “be fond of” (1520s) and “be inclined” (1550s) followed.^[3] Take care and “an object of concern” date from the 1580s,^[3] as do the many comparisons of indifference such as not care a fig (or a pin, a straw, a button).^[3][10] Couldn't care less is recorded from 1946 and could care less in the same sense from 1955.^[3] In modern British English care also means welfare services and local-authority guardianship of children (taken into care).^[11][12] Weekley notes that the Scots Care Sunday, the fifth in Lent, kept the old sense of sorrow.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English caru, sorrow, grief; verb carian (Beowulf).^[2]
• c. 1000 – anxiety; serious attention, heed.^[9]
• c. 1230 – care for, to look after.^[9]
• mid-13th century – not care.^[3]
• c. 1400 – charge, oversight.^[3][9]
• 1520s – to be fond of.^[3]
• 1580s – take care; an object of concern.^[3]
• 1840 – care of in addresses.^[3]
• 1946 – couldn't care less.^[3]
• 1955 – could care less.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The provision of what someone or something needs for health, welfare or upkeep: the care of the elderly.
2. (British) Local-authority guardianship of children: taken into care.
3. Serious attention or caution: handle with care.
4. Charge or supervision: left in my care.
5. Worry or anxiety; a cause of it: without a care in the world.
6. (archaic) Grief, sorrow.

Verb

1. To feel concern or interest: I don't care.
2. To look after or provide for: cared for her mother.
3. To like or want: would you care for some tea?
4. To mind or object.

Word family

• carer
• aftercare
• carefree
• careful
• caregiver
• careless
• caretaker
• careworn

Related words

• chary

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary notes that I could care less is illogical but argues that this is no reason to bar it from casual speech.^[13] Random House distinguishes take care (attention to one particular detail) from take pains (sustained effort that nothing is overlooked).^[14]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
14. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House