take

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English taken,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English tacan (“to grasp, seize”),^[2][5][6] borrowed from Old Norse taka (“to take, grasp, lay hold of”), past tense tók, past participle tekinn.^[2][5][7][8] The Gersum Project notes that the derivation from Old Norse has always been accepted: the English verb shares the strong class VI conjugation only with its Old Norse source, it has no clear cognates in Old English, and its late appearance in Old English for so basic a concept supports a loan.^[9] The OED adds that some early phrasal uses, such as “take on” and “take off”, may be modelled on Scandinavian constructions.^[7] Hoad, however, notes that Old English oftacan may point to native currency.^[10] Its cognates include Middle Dutch tāken, Middle Low German tacken (“to touch”) and Gothic 𐍄𐌴𐌺𐌰𐌽 (tēkan, “to touch”);^{[2][5][7][11]} Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Germanic *tēkaną.^[1] The ultimate origin is uncertain, perhaps "to touch";^[2][12][6] the OED suggests an irregular development from the base of Latin tangō (“to touch”), the source of tangent,^[7] and Barnhart gives Proto-Indo-European *dēg- (“to lay hold of”).^[5] In Middle English the verb gradually replaced nimen, from Old English niman, which survives in nimble.^[2][11][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To seize and hold a person captive (1072) and to capture a town (1076), in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.^[7] Etymonline glosses late Old English tacan "to grip, seize by force, lay hold of".^[2] Barnhart dates the Old English verb to about 1100, perhaps before 1000 in the Danelaw, and Middle English taken to probably before 1200, in Layamon.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The weaker sense "to get, obtain, receive" is recorded by the late 12th century,^[2] and "to accept" about 1200.^[5] From these came "to choose" (about 1275), "to be affected by", as in take cold (before 1325), and "to make or do", as in take a bath (1375).^[5] Already in Middle English one could take pity, a nap, heed, the veil, an answer or a breath;^[2] the OED calls it "one of the elemental words of the language", and take up alone has 55 senses in its 1989 edition.^[2] The sense "to have effect" was first used of grafts in the mid-15th century,^[2] and "to capture a piece" in chess about 1460.^[7] Johnson (1755) gave as the first sense "to receive what is offered".^[13] The noun first meant a lease of land, in Scots (1392),^[7] and later a catch of fish (1626),^[7] money received (1649),^[7] money got by theft or fraud (1888)^[7][14] and, by 1916, a scene filmed without a break.^[2] On the take, open to bribes, dates from 1930.^[2]

Timeline

• 1072 – to seize and hold a person captive; 1076, to capture a town.^[7]
• c. 1175 – to catch wild animals or fish.^[7]
• c. 1200 – to accept or receive.^[5]
• c. 1300 – to steal; of an illness, to attack someone.^[7]
• c. 1330 – to arrest.^[7]
• 1392 – noun, a lease of land, in Scots.^[7]
• c. 1460 – to capture a piece in chess.^[7]
• 1626 – noun, a catch of fish.^[7]
• 1649 – noun, money received.^[7] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to 1654.^[5][4]
• 1823 – to win a game or point.^[7]
• 1888 – noun, money got by theft or fraud.^[7][2][14]
• 1916 – noun, a scene filmed without a break.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To get hold of with the hands; to grasp: She took his arm.^[15][7]
2. To capture or seize, especially by force: The rebels took the town.^[15][16][7]
3. To win in a game or competition: She took the gold medal.^[15][16][7]
4. To catch or kill fish or game.^[15][7]
5. To remove something, or to steal it: Someone took my bike.^[16][7]
6. To accept or receive something offered.^[16][13]
7. To be affected by; to come down with an illness: take cold.^[15][5]
8. To perform an action: take a bath, take a walk.^[5][2]
9. Of a graft, seed, vaccine or the like, to start growing or to have the intended effect.^[15][2]

Noun

1. An amount taken or caught at one time, as of fish or game; a catch.^[15][7]
2. Money received, especially as profit or receipts.^[15][7]
3. (slang) Money got by theft or fraud.^[7][14]
4. A scene or sequence filmed or recorded without a break.^[15][2]
5. on the take: accepting bribes.^[2]

Word family

• takable
• taker
• retake
• double take
• intake
• overtake
• undertake
• partake
• takeover
• takeoff

Related words

• wapentake
• nimble

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Dance, Richard; Pons-Sanz, Sara; Schorn, Brittany, eds., The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, gersum.org
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
16. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins