English Reference
Verb

forsake

v.
C1 Advanced US /fɔɹˈseɪk/ UK /fɔːsˈeɪk/ for·sake UK spelling forsakes

infinitive forsake past forsook past participle forsaken

v.to leave someone or something behind for good. It is an old-fashioned word that you might see in stories or poems.

v.to leave behind or abandon permanently. Often used in literary or formal contexts to describe a deliberate and final departure.


SIMPLE

He was willing to forsake his old life for a new adventure.

CONTEXTUAL

The knight was forced to forsake his family and his home to join the king's army.

COMPLEX

In many ancient myths, the protagonist must forsake their former identity to achieve a higher state of being or to fulfill a divine prophecy.


From Middle English forsaken (“to abandon, desert, repudiate, withdraw allegiance from; to deny, reject, shun; to betray; to divorce (a spouse); to disown; to be false to (one's nature, vows, etc.); to give up, renounce, surrender; to discard; to omit; to decline, refuse, reject; to avoid, escape; to cease, desist; to evade, neglect; to contradict, refute; to depart, leave; to become detached, separate”) [and other forms], from Old English forsacan (“to oppose; to give up, renounce; to decline, refuse”), from Proto-West Germanic frasakan (“to forsake, renounce”), from Proto-Germanic fra- (prefix meaning ‘away, off’) + sakaną (“to charge; to dispute”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European seh₂g- (“to seek out”)). The English word can be analysed as for- + sake, and is cognate with Saterland Frisian ferseeke (“to deny, refuse”), West Frisian fersaakje, Dutch verzaken (“to renounce, forsake”), Middle High German versachen (“to deny”), Danish forsage (“to give up”), Swedish försaka (“to be without, give up”), Norwegian forsake (“to give up, renounce”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌰𐌽 (sakan, “to quarrel; to rebuke”), .

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin ine-pro *seh₂g-
Level C1 · Advanced
Frequency Occasional
Updated