Etymologically
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lose

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /luːz/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English losen (“to be lost, perish”),[2][3] inherited from Old English losian (“to be lost, perish”),[4][2] from los (“destruction, loss”),[4][3][5] from Proto-Germanic *lausa-, the source also of loss, loose and -less.[4] It is from Proto-Indo-European *leu- (“to loosen, divide, cut apart”),[4][3] through an extended form *leus-,[4] and Latin luere (“to atone for”) and Greek λύειν (lúein, “to loosen”) are cognates.[6][2] It merged with the related Middle English leese, from Old English lēosan (“to lose”),[4][5] whose past participle loren survives in forlorn.[4] The pronunciation with /uː/ was probably influenced by loose.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To perish, be lost”: before 725 in Barnhart,[2] or about 888 in the OED.[7] Barnhart dates Middle English losen “to be lost” to 1120, in the Peterborough Chronicle.[2]

Semantic evolution

The transitive senses came from the merger with leese:[4] “to be deprived of, part with accidentally”, of money, blood or sleep, is from about 1200,[4][7] and the loss of a relative by death also from about 1205.[7] “To fail to keep track of” is from the mid-13th century,[4] and “to fail to win” something from about 1300, intransitive “to be defeated” from the late 14th century.[4] “To fail to maintain”, as in lose patience, is from the mid-15th century[4] or 1436.[7] “To cause someone to lose his way” is from the 1640s, and “to get rid of” something unwanted from the 1660s.[4] A clock loses time when it runs slow.[8]

Timeline

  • before 725 – to perish.[2]
  • c. 1200 – to be deprived of.[4]
  • mid-13th century – to lose track of.[4]
  • c. 1300 – to fail to win.[4]
  • late 14th century – to be defeated.[4]
  • 1436 – to fail to maintain.[7]
  • 1640s – to cause to lose one's way.[4]
  • 1660s – to get rid of.[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To be unable to find; to mislay.
  2. To be deprived of something one had, as by accident or death.
  3. To fail to win: to lose a game.
  4. To fail to keep or maintain: to lose patience.
  5. To get rid of: to lose weight.
  6. Of a clock, to run slow.

Word family

  • losable
  • losableness
  • lose-lose
  • no-lose
  • lose out

Usage notes

The SOED records two unrelated obsolete words: a noun lose, “praise, fame”, from Old French los, from Latin laudēs, used from Middle English to the early 19th century, and a verb “to praise” from it.[5][7] A slang noun lose, a lost race, is from 1884.[7][5]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin