forget
pronunciation
How to pronounce forget in British English:
UK [fəˈɡet]
How to pronounce forget in American English:
US [fərˈɡet]
-
- Verb:
- dismiss from the mind; stop remembering
- be unable to remember
- forget to do something
- leave behind unintentionally
Word Origin
- forget
- forget: [OE] From a formal point of view, forget is exactly what it seems – a combination of for and get. However, this is not the modern English preposition for, but a prefix that in former times was a live building block of the language, denoting negation or exclusion. So here, forget’s Germanic ancestor *fergetan meant literally ‘not get’, hence ‘lose one’s hold on’ and metaphorically ‘lose one’s memory of’.=> get
- forget (v.)
- Old English forgietan "lose the power of recalling to the mind; fail to remember; neglect inadvertently," from for-, used here probably with privative force, "away, amiss, opposite" + gietan "to grasp" (see get). To "un-get," hence "to lose" from the mind. A common Germanic construction (compare Old Saxon fargetan, Old Frisian forjeta, Dutch vergeten, Old High German firgezzan, German vergessen "to forget"). The physical sense would be "to lose (one's) grip on," but that is not recorded in any historical Germanic language. Figurative sense of "lose care for" is from late 13c. Related: Forgetting; forgot; forgotten.
Example
- 1. Forget about the bride and groom .
- 2. I will never forget it .
- 3. Eg. let 's forget about those worries .
- 4. We forget the vast majority of things that happen to us .
- 5. This is something they are unlikely to forget .