forgive
/fɚˈɡɪv/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.25 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Please forgive me if my phone goes off - I'm expecting an urgent call from my boss."
- "Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace."
- "Forgive us our trespasses."
- "Forgive these wild and wandering cries, Confusions of a wasted youth; Forgive them where they fail in truth, And in thy wisdom make me wise."
- "... to forgive their crimes."
- "What? Are we all just supposed to forgive this? This guy messed up in the worst possible way he could! Now we have nothing!"
Etymology
Alteration (due to give) of Middle English foryiven, forȝiven, from Old English forġiefan (“to forgive, to give”), from Proto-West Germanic *frageban, from Proto-Germanic *fragebaną (“to give away; give up; release; forgive”), equivalent to for- + give (etymologically for- + yive). Cognate with Scots forgeve, forgif, forgie (“to forgive”), West Frisian ferjaan (“to forgive”), Dutch vergeven (“to forgive”), German vergeben (“to forgive”), Icelandic fyrirgefa (“to forgive”), Yiddish פֿאַרגעבן (fargebn, “to forgive”)
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *gʰebʰ-, foryiven, forġiefan, *frageban, *fragebaną
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /fɚˈɡɪv/
- British English: /fə(ɹ)ˈɡɪv/