forget
/fərˈɡɛt/verb
Fail to retain something in or recall from memory
From O.English; Germanic prefix for- (Away) + O.Norse, with an Old English cognate element in the compound get (Grasp).
Lineage
for-
get
The story
The Old English forgietan gives forgetting a wonderfully physical image: for- plus gietan, “to grasp,” as if a memory were an object slipping out of your hand. The prefix could suggest loss or an adverse result, while the grasping element belongs to the same Germanic family as modern get. That family has traveled a long way: Old Norse geta could mean “obtain,” “learn,” or even “guess,” and English guess is a surprising cousin. By the late 13th century, the English verb was already in use for losing something from the mind. So when a name vanishes just as you reach for it, the word itself pictures the failed grab.
Modern usage
Used in one submitted slang entry for forgetting something while stoned.
- Heard in
- slang
Words from the same roots
for- · Old English; Germanic prefix, ‘Away, loss, or an adverse or opposite result’
get · Old Norse, with an Old English cognate element in the compound, ‘Grasp, obtain, or take hold of’
Derivedget, guess, apprehend, comprehend, prehensile, prison