care

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See also: Care, caré, căre, čáře, çare, çarë, and -care

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English care, from Old English caru, ċearu (“care, concern, anxiety, sorrow, grief, trouble”), from Proto-West Germanic *karu, from Proto-Germanic *karō (“care, sorrow, cry”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh₂r- (“shout, call”). Cognate with Old Saxon cara, kara (“concern, action”), Middle High German kar (“sorrow, lamentation”), Icelandic kör (“sickbed”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍂𐌰 (kara, “concern, care”). Related also to Dutch karig (“scanty”), German karg (“sparse, meagre, barren”), Latin garriō, Ancient Greek γῆρυς (gêrus). See also chary.

Noun

care (countable and uncountable, plural cares)

  1. (obsolete) Grief, sorrow.
  2. Close attention; concern; responsibility.
    Care should be taken when holding babies.
  3. (countable, uncountable) Worry.
    I don't have a care in the world.
    • 1956, Irving Berlin (lyrics and music), “Cheek to Cheek”:
      Yes, heaven, I'm in heaven / And the cares that hung around me through the week / Seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak
  4. (uncountable) Maintenance, upkeep.
    dental care
  5. (uncountable) The treatment of those in need (especially as a profession).
    • 2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly‎, volume 189, number 2, page 10:
      The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.
  6. (uncountable) The state of being cared for by others.
    in care
  7. The object of watchful attention or anxiety.
Quotations
  • 1925, Walter Anthony and Tom Reed (titles), Rupert Julian (director), The Phantom of the Opera, silent movie
    ‘Have a care, Buquet—ghosts like not to be seen or talked about!’
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Etymology 2

From Middle English caren, carien, from Old English carian (“to sorrow, grieve, be troubled, be anxious, to care for, heed”), from Proto-West Germanic *karōn (“to care”), from Proto-Germanic *karōną (“to care”).

Cognate with Old Saxon karōn (“to lament”), Middle High German karen, karn (“to complain, lament, grieve, mourn”), archaic German karen (“to groan, gasp”), Alemannic German karen, kären (“to groan, gasp”), Swedish kära (“to fall in love”), Icelandic kæra (“to care, like”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍂𐍉𐌽 (karōn, “to be concerned”).

Verb

care (third-person singular simple present cares, present participle caring, simple past and past participle cared)

  2. (transitive, intransitive) To be concerned (about), to have an interest (in); to feel concern (about).
    "She doesn't care what you think." "I don't care, I'm still going."
  3. (intransitive, polite, formal, chiefly in the negative) To want, to desire; to like; to be inclined towards.
    Would you care for another slice of cake?
    Would you care to dance?
    I don't care to hear your opinion.
  4. (intransitive, informal, by extension) For it to matter to, or make any difference to.
    • 2013, Addy Osmani, Developing Backbone.js Applications, page 175:
      An event aggregator facilitates a fire-and-forget model of communication. The object triggering the event doesn't care if there are any subscribers. It just fires the event and moves on.
  5. (intransitive) (with for) To look after or look out for.
    Young children can learn to care for a pet.
    He cared for his mother while she was sick.
  6. (intransitive, Appalachia) To mind; to object.
    • 2006, Grace Toney Edwards, JoAnn Aust Asbury, Ricky L. Cox, A Handbook to Appalachia: An Introduction to the Region, Univ. of Tennessee Press, →ISBN, page 108:
      After introducing herself, the therapist then asked the patient if it would be all right to do the exercises which the doctor had ordered for her. The patient would response, "Well, I don't care to." For several days, the therapist immediately left the room and officially recorded that the patient had "refused" therapy. […] It was not until months later that this therapist […] discovered that she should have been interpreting "I don't care to" as "I don't mind" doing those exercises now.
Usage notes
  • The sense “to want” is most commonly found as an interrogative or negative sentence, and may take a for clause (would you care for some tea?) or (as a catenative verb) takes a to infinitive (would you care to go with me?). See Appendix:English catenative verbs.
  • In the sense “to be concerned about”, care may idiomatically take a figurative amount as a direct object, as in the fixed phrase care a fig (equivalent to give a fig), or care one whit.
Conjugation
Conjugation of care
infinitive (to) care
present tense past tense
1st-person singular care cared
2nd-person singular care, carest† cared, caredst†
3rd-person singular cares, careth† cared
plural care
subjunctive care cared
imperative care —
participles caring cared

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

References

  1. ^ Stanley, Oma (1937) “I. Vowel Sounds in Stressed Syllables”, in The Speech of East Texas (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 2), New York: Columbia University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § 6, page 16.

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

Verb

care

  1. inflection of carer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈka.re/
  • Rhymes: -are
  • Hyphenation: cà‧re

Adjective

care f pl

  1. feminine plural of caro

Anagrams

Latin

Pronunciation

Verb

carē

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of careō

Adjective

cāre

  1. vocative masculine singular of cārus

Adverb

care (comparative carius, superlative carissimē)

  1. at a high price

References

  • “care”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “care”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • care in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English caru, ċearu (“care, concern, anxiety, sorrow, grief, trouble”), from Proto-West Germanic *karu, from Proto-Germanic *karō. See Modern English care for more.

Pronunciation

Noun

care (plural cares)

  1. grief; sorrow

Descendants

  • English: care
  • Scots: care
  • Yola: caure, caare, caar

References

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative forms

Noun

care

  1. inflection of cara (“walker; frequenting”):
    1. locative singular
    2. accusative plural

Verb

care

  1. first-person singular present/imperative middle of carati (“to walk”)
  2. optative active singular of carati (“to walk”)

Romanian

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin quālis, quālem. Compare Italian quale and Aromanian cari, cai, care.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈka.re/
  • Rhymes: -are
  • Hyphenation: ca‧re

Determiner

care

  1. which
    Care din aceste jocuri este nou?
    Which of these games is new?
Inflection
declension of care
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative/accusative care care care care
genitive/dative cărui cărei căror căror

Pronoun

care

  1. which, that, who
    El este un om care a văzut foarte multe lucruri.
    He is a man who has seen very many things.

Etymology 2

Noun

care n pl

  1. plural of car (“cart”)

Etymology 3

Verb

care

  1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of căra

References

Venetian

Adjective

care f

  1. feminine plural of caro
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia