forgo

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English forgon, also forgan,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English forgān (“to go away, pass over, abstain from, neglect”),^[5][6][7][8] formed from for- (“away”) and gān (“to go”), the source of go.^{[5][6][3][9][10]} Merriam-Webster Unabridged compares Old Saxon fargangan (“to pass away”), Old High German firgangan (“to pass away”) and Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (faurgaggan, “to go by”),^[3][11] and Barnhart associates it with Middle High German vergān, modern German vergehen (“to pass away”).^[6][12] The American Heritage Dictionary traces the second element to the root Proto-Indo-European *ghē-.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To go away, go past, pass away, an intransitive sense of about 950 that was obsolete by the 16th century.^[14][9] The Old English verb already meant to abstain from something, not to use or take it: Bosworth–Toller quotes it for what a man should do and what he should forgān.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The Old English verb had both a literal sense, to go past or away, and the figurative senses to pass over, neglect and abstain from.^[5][8][14] In Middle English the meanings "to give up, part with" and "to forsake, leave a place" were added,^[2][14] and the word could also mean to lose something involuntarily, and, in the past participle forgone, exhausted from travelling or faint with emotion; both senses died out in the 16th century.^[14][9] Chaucer used the verb 25 times, for giving up, refraining, forfeiting and lacking.^[15] Of all these, only "to go without, deny oneself" (from before 1175) and "to refrain from an action" stay in general use;^[14][9] "to go past, overlook" and "to forsake, leave" survive only as archaisms.^[9][3][16]

Timeline

• c. 950 – to go away, pass away (obsolete).^[14][9]
• before 1000 – to abstain or refrain from an action.^[14][9]
• c. 1000 – to go by, pass over; to neglect or overlook (now archaic).^[14][9]
• before 1175 – to go without, give up, relinquish.^[14][9] Barnhart dates forgon, to do without, to probably before 1200.^[6]
• c. 1205 – to lose or forfeit involuntarily (obsolete).^[14][9]
• before 1300 – to forsake, leave (now archaic); the past participle forgone, worn out, faint (obsolete).^[14][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To do without something one would like or is entitled to; to give up or renounce: He forwent his bonus to keep the shop open.^[16][3][17]
2. To abstain or refrain from an action or procedure: We will forgo the usual speeches.^[9][14]
3. (archaic) To leave or forsake.^[3][16][9]
4. (archaic) To pass over, neglect or overlook.^[9][14]

Word family

• forgoer

Related words

• go
• forego

Usage notes

The verb is often spelled forego.^[3][5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives that spelling as less common,^[3] and Etymonline, Weekley and Skeat consider it less correct.^[5][12][18] Grammarphobia points out that forego, "to go before", is a different verb, inherited from Old English foregān, with the prefix fore-, and regrets that the American Heritage Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate now list the two spellings as variants of each other.^[19][5] The OED likewise treats forego, to precede, as a separate verb, recorded from Old English.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
11. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ a b Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
18. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
19. ^ O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "Is it forego … or forgo?", 19 February 2007