bereave (v.)

Middle English bireven, from Old English bereafian "to deprive of, take away by violence, seize, rob," from be- + reafian "rob, plunder," from Proto-Germanic *raubōjanan, from PIE *runp- "to break" (see corrupt (adj.)). A common Germanic formation; compare Old Frisian biravia "despoil, rob, deprive (someone of something)," Old Saxon biroban, Dutch berooven, Old High German biroubon, German berauben, Gothic biraubon.

Since mid-17c., mostly in reference to life, hope, loved ones, and other immaterial possessions. Past tense forms bereaved and bereft have co-existed since 14c., now slightly differentiated in meaning, the former applied to loss of loved ones, the latter to circumstances.

Entries linking to bereave

bereft (adj.)

late 14c., past-participle adjective from bereave (v.).

corrupt (adj.)

early 14c., "corrupted, debased in character," from Old French corropt "unhealthy, corrupt; uncouth" (of language) and directly from Latin corruptus, past participle of corrumpere "to destroy; spoil," figuratively "corrupt, seduce, bribe," from assimilated form of com-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see com-), + rup-, past participle stem of rumpere "to break," from a nasalized form of PIE *runp- "to break" (source also of Sanskrit rupya- "to suffer from a stomach-ache;" Old English reofan "to break, tear").

Meaning "decomposing, putrid, spoiled" is from late 14c. Sense of "changed for the worse, debased by admixture or alteration" (of language, etc.) is from late 14c. Meaning "guilty of dishonesty involving bribery" is from late 14c. Related: Corruptly; corruptness.

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Trends of bereave

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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reave

Middle English reven "to rob plunder," from Old English reafian "to rob (something from someone), plunder, pillage, take away by force or stealth," from Proto-Germanic *raubōjanan "to rob, deprive of" (source also of Old Frisian ravia, Middle Dutch roven, Dutch rooven, Old High G

rob

late 12c., robben, "steal, take away (from someone) unlawfully; plunder or strip (a place) by force or violence," from Old French rober "rob, steal, pillage, ransack, rape," from West Germanic *rauba "booty" (source also of Old High German roubon "to rob," roub "spoil, plunder;"

private

This is a past-participle adjective from the verb privare "to bereave, deprive, rob, strip" of anything; "to free, release...

sprit

Middle English sprete, from Old English spreot "pole, pike, spear," originally "a sprout, shoot, branch of a tree," from Proto-Germanic *sprut- (see sprout (v.)). It is cognate with Middle Dutch spriet, Middle Low German spryet, German Spriet, North Frisian sprit. The only surviv

strip

"remove the clothes of, deprive of covering," early 13c., strepen, a specialized sense of Old English -striepan, -strypan (transitive) "to plunder, rob, despoil" (as in West Saxon bestrypan "to plunder," Anglian -strepan). This is from Proto-Germanic *straupijan (source also of M

stirp

"race, lineage, family," c. 1500, from Latin stirp "the stock of a family, line of descent, ancestral race," a figurative use from stirps "stem, stalk, trunk of a plant," figuratively "source, origin, foundation, beginning," a word of uncertain origin. De Vaan writes that it "Has

divest

1560s, devest (modern spelling is c. 1600), "strip of possessions," from French devester "strip of possessions" (Old French desvestir), from des- "away" (see dis-) + vestir "to clothe," from Latin vestire "to clothe" (from PIE *wes- (2) "to clothe," extended form of root *eu- "to

deprive

mid-14c., depriven, "to take away; to divest, strip, bereave; divest of office," from Old French depriver, from Medieval Latin deprivare, from de- "entirely" (see de-) + Latin privare "to deprive, rob, strip" of anything; "to deliver from" anything (see private (adj.)). From late

imagination

"faculty of the mind which forms and manipulates images," mid-14c., ymaginacion, from Old French imaginacion "concept, mental picture; hallucination," from Latin imaginationem (nominative imaginatio) "imagination, a fancy," noun of action from past participle stem of imaginari "t

chlamydia

type of genital infection, 1984, from the name of the bacteria that causes it (1966), which is formed from a Latinized combining form of Greek khlamys (genitive khlamydos) "short mantle, upper garment for men, military cloak," which is of unknown origin, + abstract noun ending -i

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updated on October 08, 2022

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