care
/kɛɚ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.56 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Care should be taken when holding babies."
- "I thank thee for thy care and honest pains."
- "‘Have a care, Buquet—ghosts like not to be seen or talked about!’"
- "I don’t have a care in the world."
- "Yes, heaven, I’m in heaven / And the cares that hung around me through the week / Seem to vanish like a gambler’s lucky streak"
- "dental care"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh₂r-der. Proto-Germanic *karō Proto-West Germanic *karu Old English caru Middle English care English care From Middle English care, from Old English caru, ċearu (“care, concern, anxiety, sorrow, grief, trouble”), from Proto-West Germanic *karu, from Proto-Germanic *karō (“care, sorrow, cry”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh₂r- (“shout, call”). Cognate with Old Saxon cara, kara (“concern, action”), Middle High German kar (“sorrow, lamentation”), Icelandic kör (“sickbed”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍂𐌰 (kara, “concern, care”). Related also to Dutch karig (“scanty”), German karg (“sparse, meagre, barren”), Latin garriō, Ancient Greek γῆρυς (gêrus). See also chary.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kɛɚ/
- British English: /kɛə/