Etymologically
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care

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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
  • 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