obey
/oʊˈbeɪ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.83 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
Etymology
From Middle English obeyen, from Anglo-Norman obeir, obeier et al., Old French obeir, from Latin oboediō (also obēdiō (“to listen to, harken, usually in extended sense, obey, be subject to, serve”)), from ob- (“before, near”) + audiō (“to hear”). Compare audient. In Latin, ob + audire would have been expected to become Classical Latin *obūdiō (compare in + claudō becoming inclūdō), but it has been theorized that the usual law court associations of the word for obeying encouraged a false archaism from ū to oe, to oboediō (compare Old Latin oinos → Classical Latin ūnus).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: obeyen, obeir, oboediō
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /oʊˈbeɪ/
- British English: /əʊˈbeɪ/