Give
verbTo hand something over to someone, or to provide or grant it freely.
How to spell give
4 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce give
What does give mean?
- verbTo hand something over to someone, or to provide or grant it freely.
Give in a sentence
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Please give the report to your manager before noon.
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Charities ask people to give whatever they can afford.
Where does give come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This is an ancient native English verb that descends from the Old English giefan, meaning 'to hand over' or 'to bestow'. Its modern spelling and hard 'g' sound owe a great deal to Old Norse gefa, brought by Scandinavian settlers, which reinforced the harder pronunciation over the softer Old English form. Both trace back to a common Germanic root that also produced the German geben and the Dutch geven, all carrying the same idea of granting or presenting something. The word has stayed remarkably steady in meaning for over a thousand years, expanding only to cover figurative senses such as giving way, giving up, and giving a speech. The slightly awkward spelling, a hard 'g' followed by 'ive', is a relic of that Norse influence rubbing up against the original English form.
How the word is built
- give (a single Germanic root verb, not built from prefix or suffix)
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