Etymologically
Log in

choose

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 16:33. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /tʃuːz/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English chesen, chosen,[2][3] inherited from Old English ċēosan (“to choose, seek out, select; to decide, test, taste”),[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *keusaną,[2][5] the source also of Old Frisian kiāsa, Old Saxon and Old High German kiosan, German kiesen, Old Norse kjósa and Gothic kiusan,[2][4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to taste, choose”),[4][2][5] the source also of Latin gustus “taste” and Greek geúesthai “to taste”.[2][5] The spelling choose, from 1545, is a respelling of Middle English chosen, a variant that arose from a shift of stress in the Old English diphthong.[2][6] It is only remotely related to choice.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English ċēosan is found about 725 in Beowulf;[2] Middle English cesen is from 1123 and chesen from probably about 1150.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the verb also meant “to test, taste, try” and “to accept, approve”.[4] The irregular past participle had levelled out to chosen by 1200,[4] and the variant spelling chuse was very frequent in the 16th to 18th centuries.[4][7] Johnson (1755) defined it as “to take by way of preference of several things offered”.[8] Choosy is a 19th-century American word.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English ċēosan.[2]
  • 1123 – Middle English cesen.[2]
  • before 1200 – past participle chosen.[4]
  • 1545 – the spelling choose.[2][6]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To pick out from a number of possibilities; to select.
  2. To decide on a course of action: she chose to stay.
  3. To prefer; to want: do as you choose.

Word family

  • chooser
  • choosable
  • mischoose
  • prechoose
  • rechoose
  • choose up

Usage notes

The spelling chuse, now archaic, was common until the 18th century.[7][4]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.