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forsake

Pronunciation: /fɔːˈseɪk/

The English word “forsake” has 4 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to renounce (someone or something).
  2. To decline or refuse (something offered).
  3. To avoid or shun (someone or something).
  4. To cause disappointment to; to be insufficient for (someone or something).

Etymology

From Middle English forsaken (“to abandon, desert, repudiate, withdraw allegiance from”), from Old English forsacan (“to oppose; to give up, renounce; to decline, refuse”), from Proto-West Germanic *frasakan (“to forsake, renounce”). By surface analysis, for- + sake. Cognates include Saterland Frisian ferseeke (“to deny, refuse”), West Frisian fersaakje, Dutch verzaken (“to renounce, forsake”),…

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