take
/ˈtæɪ̯k/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.92 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "They took Charlton's gun from his cold, dead hands."
- "I'll take that plate off the table."
- "All theſe Ceremonies thus being performed; the Prince which ſucceeded taketh a torch, and firſt putteth to the fire himſelfe, and after him all the reſt of the company, and by and by as the fire was kindled out of the toppe of the higheſt turret, an Eagle was let fly to carry vp his ſoule into heaven, and ſo he was afterward reputed, and by the Romanes adored among the reſt of the Gods: […]"
- "That viſage miſ-becomes, thy Pipe / Caſt from thee, Warlike dame, / Take unto thee thy wonted Armes, / And keepe thy Cheekes in frame."
- "She took the policeman’s helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him."
- "We take, take, take until we can't take anymore. Maybe it's because our inner nature is not primarily one of giving, but of taking. Even these things we take that should balance our lives and give us rest do not. We make work out of them. We do them aggressively; always in control. Take."
Etymology
From Middle English taken (“to take, lay hold of, grasp, strike”), from Old English tacan (“to grasp, touch”), probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse taka (“to touch, take”). Alternatively, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *takan (“to take; grasp, touch”). Both from Proto-Germanic *tēkaną (“to touch”), from pre-Germanic *deh₁g- (“to touch”), possibly a phonetically altered form of Proto-Indo-European *te-th₂g- (“to touch, take”) (see there for details). Gradually displaced native English nim, from Middle English nimen, from Old English niman (“to take”). Cognates Cognate with Scots tak (“to take”), Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk taka (“to take”), Norwegian Bokmål ta (“to take”), Swedish ta (“to take”), Danish tage (“to take, seize”), West Frisian take, taakje (“to grab, steal”), Dutch taken (“to take; grasp”), Middle Low German tacken (“to grasp”). English thack may be from the same root. Compare tackle. Despite superficial similarity, unrelated to Proto-Indo-European *tek- (“to take by hand, obtain”), which is instead cognate with English thig (“to beg”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtæɪ̯k/
Usage
Inflected Forms
takes (present, singular)
taking (participle, present)
took (past)
taken (participle, past)
tane (Scotland, archaic)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
took (first person, past)
takest (archaic, present)
took (past, second person)
tookst (archaic, past)
tookest (archaic, past)