have

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English haven, also habben,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English habban (“to own, possess”),^[5][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to have”).^[1] Kroonen reconstructs the stem as *habēn-, a stative verb to the European root Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-.^[8] It is cognate with Old Frisian hebba, Old Saxon hebbian, Dutch hebben, Old High German habēn, German haben, Old Norse hafa, Swedish ha, Danish have and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (haban).^[9][10] The OED derives it from the same Germanic base as heave, with a suffix forming stative verbs,^[9] and Ayto, Klein and Etymonline go on to Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”), the source of Latin capiō (“to seize”).^[10][3][5] Hoad and Partridge call the link to heave probable.^[11][12] Most dictionaries deny any connection with habeō (“to have”), despite the likeness in form and sense,^{[5][6][10][3]} since the two have apparently unrelated Indo-European bases;^[9] Hoad calls the link doubtful,^[11] Weekley was uncertain which Latin verb was the cognate,^[13] and Skeat and Collins relate it to the Latin verb.^[14][15] Holthausen asks whether it might even be borrowed from the Latin.^[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

To own, possess: about 725 in Beowulf, in Barnhart's dating.^[6] The OED's first quotation is from King Alfred's translation of Boethius, in early Old English.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the possessive sense itself is an innovation: older languages made the thing possessed the subject and put the possessor in the dative, as in Latin mihi est.^[5][1] The verb's senses of obtaining, consuming, bearing children, experiencing and causing were all present in Old English.^[9][17] In early use it often translates habeō and Old French aver, and the OED thinks semantic influence from those verbs likely from an early date.^[9] In all the Germanic languages it also forms the perfect,^[10][6] and this use is recorded from early Old English: Ðet ic beboden hebbe an ðisem gewrite, in a Kentish charter.^[9] Its use for obligation is old too, first for something to be done as a duty, then from before 1300 for "to be required to", as with hedde to gon in the Passion our Lord;^[9] Etymonline dates this last sense to the 1570s.^[5] Had better is recorded from about 1300, and replaced the Old English construction with a dative, him wǣre betere.^[9][5][13] The short forms come from sound change: the hæf- stem lost its [f] before a consonant, giving hast, hath, has and had, while the habb- forms gave way by levelling to hav-.^[6][18] The noun followed from the verb: "possession" from before 1200,^[9] a wealthy person from before 1739,^[9] usually in the phrase the haves and the have-nots,^[9][2] and in Australian use a swindle from 1885.^[9][19] The cant use "to cheat" was so called about 1780.^[9] The sexual sense is in the OED from Old English, and in Green's slang record from 1502–6.^[9][19] Have ——, will travel is first found in a 1929 advertisement, have car; will travel;^[9] Etymonline traces its fame to Bob Hope's have tux, will travel (1954).^[5]

Timeline

• c. 725 – habban, to own or possess.^[6]
• early Old English – auxiliary of the perfect, in a Kentish charter.^[9]
• Old English – to have as a duty; to eat or drink; to bear a child; to experience or suffer.^[9][17]
• 1100 – the Middle English form haven.^[6]
• before 1200 – noun, possession.^[9]
• before 1300 – have to, to be required to.^[9] Etymonline dates it to the 1570s.^[5]
• c. 1300 – had better, had liefer and similar comparatives.^[9]
• c. 1405 – to know a language or subject, in Chaucer.^[9]
• before 1739 – noun, a wealthy person or nation.^[9] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1836.^[2]
• c. 1780 – to deceive, cheat, as “a cant word”.^[9]
• 1868 – to entertain as a guest.^[9]
• 1885 – noun, a swindle or hoax, in the Sydney Bulletin.^[9][19]
• 1941 – to have had it, to have missed one's chance; soon after, to be finished or exhausted.^[9]
• 1958 – as a commercial courtesy, have a happy day.^[9] Etymonline has have a nice day by 1970.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To own or hold as a possession: They have a small boat.^[15][2][9]
2. To possess as a part or quality; to consist of or include: Her dog has one blue eye.^[15][2][9]
3. To receive, obtain or take: We had a letter from the bank.^[15][9]
4. To hold in the mind; to know: I have no Latin.^[15][9]
5. To experience, undergo or suffer: She has a sore throat.^[15][9]
6. To eat, drink or smoke: Let's have some soup.^[15][9]
7. To take part in, or hold, an event: to have a chat or a party.^[15][9]
8. To cause something to be done or to happen: I must have my coat cleaned.^[15][9]
9. To give birth to: She had twins in June.^[15][9]
10. To receive as a guest: We're having my parents to stay.^[15][9]
11. With a negative, not to allow: I won't have shouting in here.^[15][9]
12. To state or maintain: Gossip has it that they've split up.^[15][9]
13. (slang) To cheat or outwit: We've been had.^[15][9]
14. (vulgar slang) To have sexual intercourse with.^[15][9][19]
15. Auxiliary with a past participle, forming perfect tenses: They have left.^[15][9]
16. have to: expressing necessity or obligation; must: You have to sign here.^[15][9]
17. had better: ought to.^[15][9]
18. had rather or had sooner: would prefer.^[15][9]

Noun

1. (usually plural) A person or nation with wealth, contrasted with the have-nots: the haves.^[2][9][18]
2. (Australian and New Zealand informal) A trick or swindle.^[9][19]

Word family

• behave
• must-have
• have on

Related words

• heave
• behoof
• haft
• hobnob
• capture
• capable
• captive
• habit
• have-not

Usage notes

In have to meaning "must", the final consonant usually assimilates to the following t, giving /haf/ and, for has to, /has/.^[20][9] Have is the most general of the words for possessing, and it admits the widest range of objects, while hold means to have in one's grasp or control.^[4] Scots also has the form hae.^[2][18][21]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
17. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
18. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
19. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
20. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
21. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)