regard

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rɪˈɡɑːd/, US /rɪˈɡɑːrd/^[1]

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Old French regard, from regarder (“to take notice of, look at, watch”),^[2][3][4] from re-, here probably intensive, and garder (“to look, heed, guard”),^[2][3][5] from a Germanic source (see guard).^[2] The verb was borrowed from Old French regarder about the same time.^[3][2] It is a doublet of reward.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Consideration, paying attention to something: 1348 in Barnhart, the mid-14th century in Etymonline; the verb, to consider, is also from about 1348.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

An aspect or look, and esteem or kindly feeling, are from the late 14th century.^[2][3][7] As regard of is in Chaucer about 1390, and in regard to is from before 1438.^[3][2] The official inspection of a forest to find trespasses is a medieval legal sense.^[7][4] The verb came to mean to look at about 1430 (1523 in the OED), to take into account in 1512–13, and to look upon with a certain feeling in the 1610s.^[3][7][2] In this regard, in this respect, is first recorded in 1602.^[3][7] Regarding passed from a participle to a preposition in the 18th century.^[4] Regardless is from 1591, and as an adverb, “anyway”, from 1872, in Mark Twain's Roughing It.^[3] Regards, good wishes in a letter, developed from the sense of kindly feeling.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1348 – consideration; to consider.^[3]
• c. 1380 – a look; esteem.^[7][3]
• c. 1390 – as regard of.^[3]
• c. 1430 – to look at.^[3]
• 1591 – regardless.^[3]
• 1602 – in this regard.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To think of or consider in a particular way: regarded as a hero.
2. To look at closely.
3. To hold in esteem or respect.
4. To concern or relate to.

Noun

1. Attention or concern for something: without regard for safety.
2. Respect or affection.
3. (regards) Good wishes.
4. A point or particular: in this regard.

Word family

• regardful
• disregard
• regardless
• self-regard
• self-regarding

Related words

• reward
• guard
• ward

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 g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e 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
9. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press