Etymologically
Log in

heed

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 13:12. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English heden,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English hēdan (“to take care, observe, attend, guard, take charge of”),[5][6][7][8] inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hōdijan (“to heed, guard”).[6][9][7][10] It is cognate with Old Saxon hōdian, Old Frisian hōda (“to protect, guard, tend”), Middle Dutch hoeden, modern Dutch hoeden, Old High German huotan and modern German hüten (“to guard, watch”).[9][6][7][11] The verb was derived from a Germanic noun for protection or care, Proto-Germanic *hōdō,[12][7] seen in hōde, huota and Hut (“care, keeping, protection”), which the OED notes is not recorded in Old English.[7][9][11] Barnhart and Klein connect it with hōd, the source of hood,[9][3] and Etymonline traces the family to Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to shelter, cover”), the root also of hat.[6][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To have a care, pay attention, take notice: in Beowulf,[7][9] which Barnhart dates about 725.[9] Also in Old English, in Ælfric, it meant to take charge or possession of something, with the genitive.[7][5]

Semantic evolution

In Old English and Middle English the verb took the genitive; later it was followed by of, then to or for.[7] The transitive use, to care for or take notice of, is recorded from before 1225,[7] and in Middle English the verb also meant to be concerned about, to obey a law, and to take charge of or look after someone.[2] From about 1275 to 1400 it could simply mean to see or look.[7] The noun, formed from the verb since there was no Old English noun,[7] is recorded probably before 1300[9] and in the phrase take heed from about 1305;[7] give heed and pay heed followed in the 16th century.[7] Weekley and Etymonline note that the noun now survives mainly as the object of such verbs.[13][6] The derivatives heedful (1548) and heedless (1579, in Spenser's Shepheardes Calender) are recorded in the 16th century.[9] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "care; attention", quoting Milton.[14] In Scottish and northern dialects the verb was still common in the 19th century, usually with a negative, as in never heed.[15][16]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – in Beowulf, to take care, attend.[9][7]
  • Old English – to take charge or possession of.[7][5]
  • before 1225 – transitive, to care for, take notice of.[7]
  • c. 1275 – to observe, look (obsolete by 1400).[7]
  • c. 1305 – noun, in take heed.[7]
  • 1357 – noun, careful attention.[7]
  • 1504 – give heed, pay heed.[7]
  • 1548 – heedful.[9]
  • 1579 – heedless.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pay close attention to and take account of; to mind: She heeded her doctor's advice.[17][4][7]
  2. To pay attention; to take notice.[4][7]

Noun

  1. Careful attention or notice, now mostly in take heed, pay heed and give heed: They paid no heed to the warning signs.[17][4][7][16]

Word family

  • heeder
  • heedful
  • heedless
  • unheeded
  • unheeding

Usage notes

The OED notes that the transitive verb is now chiefly literary in England but in common use in Scotland,[7] and the Shorter Oxford calls the intransitive verb chiefly dialectal now, as in never heed.[16][15]

References

  1. ^ 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 Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  11. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ a b 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)
  16. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  17. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins