Care

How to spell care

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce care

What does care mean?

1. verbTo feel concern, interest, or affection about someone or something.
2. nounThe provision of attention, protection, or looking after someone or something.

Care in a sentence

• verb

  She did not seem to care whether the meeting ran late.

• noun

  The elderly patient needs round-the-clock care at home.

• verb

  Good managers genuinely care about how their staff are coping.

• noun

  Handle the antique vase with great care when packing it.

Where does care come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word comes from the Old English noun caru, sometimes spelled cearu, which originally meant grief, sorrow, or anxious concern rather than the gentle tending we usually mean today. It derives from a Germanic root shared with the Old High German chara, meaning lament or wailing, so the earliest sense leaned heavily on worry and burden. Over the medieval period the meaning softened and broadened: the heavy weight of anxiety became the lighter idea of attentiveness, watchfulness, and looking after something or someone. The associated verb developed alongside it, moving from feeling troubled about a thing to feeling concern or fondness for it. It is worth noting that this native English word is unrelated to the Latin cura (from which we get cure, curious, and curator), even though the two look and sound alike; the spelling stays simple precisely because it is a genuine Anglo-Saxon word.

How the word is built

• care (from Old English caru: sorrow, anxiety, grief)