Forgive
verbTo stop feeling anger or resentment toward someone for a fault or offence, or to cancel a debt or obligation.
How to spell forgive
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce forgive
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does forgive mean?
- verbTo stop feeling anger or resentment toward someone for a fault or offence, or to cancel a debt or obligation.
Forgive in a sentence
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She found it hard to forgive her brother for missing the wedding.
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The bank agreed to forgive the remaining balance on the small loan.
Where does forgive come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This word descends directly from Old English forgiefan, which combined the prefix for-, used to intensify or to mean 'away, completely', with giefan, the ancestor of our modern 'give'. The literal sense was therefore 'to give away' or 'to give up', which over time settled into the meaning of giving up a claim against someone, that is, pardoning an offence or cancelling a debt. The same construction appears across the old Germanic languages, including the modern German vergeben, which still means 'to forgive'. The spelling kept the single -giv- of 'give', so the trap is remembering there is no 'e' after the 'g' (it is forgive, not forgieve) and no doubled letter. The financial sense of cancelling a debt, as in forgiving a loan, preserves the oldest 'give away' meaning almost intact.
How the word is built
- for- (Old English intensive prefix meaning 'away, completely')
- give (from giefan: to grant or bestow)
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