Etymologically
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regard

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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

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