forgetful

Etymology

It is formed from English forget + -ful,^[2][3][4][5] first as Middle English foryetful, from foryeten.^[6][7][3] Etymonline calls it a curious formation.^[3] An older adjective of this meaning was foryetel, also forgetil,^[6][3] from Old English forgytol, also forgitel,^[6][8][3] which Etymonline compares with Dutch vergetel; German vergesslich is formed differently, literally "forget-ly".^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Apt to forget, or having forgotten: the OED's first record is the Wycliffite Bible, James 1:25, dated 1382,^[2] a verse the Middle English Dictionary dates to about 1384: Not..a forȝetful herer, but a doer of werk.^[6] Etymonline gives the late 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Chaucer has the word once, in the Clerk's Tale.^[9][6] The Middle English Dictionary also records it for something likely to be forgotten.^[6] The sense "heedless, neglectful" is first recorded in Tyndale's Bible of 1526, at Hebrews 13:2,^[2] and Johnson (1755) quotes that verse in the form Be not forgetful to entertain strangers.^[10] From the 1550s the word could also mean "causing forgetfulness", almost only in poetry;^[2][3] Trench quotes Milton's that forgetful lake and Webster's the forgetful wine, and sets this use against what happened to dreadful and frightful.^[11] Johnson lists it as well, as "causing oblivion".^[10]

Timeline

• 1382 – apt or liable to forget.^[2] The Middle English Dictionary dates the same verse to about 1384.^[6]
• 1526 – heedless, neglectful.^[2]
• 1557 – causing forgetfulness, inducing oblivion, chiefly in poetry.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Apt to forget; having a poor memory: My grandfather grew forgetful in his last years.^[7][12][2]
2. Heedless or neglectful, usually with of: She worked on, forgetful of the hour.^[7][12][2]
3. (poetic) Causing forgetfulness; inducing oblivion: Milton's that forgetful lake.^{[12][2][7][11]}

Word family

• forgetfully
• forgetfulness
• unforgetful

Related words

• forget

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins