Etymology

beholden

be·hol·den
B3E1H4O1L1D2E1N1

Today it means: Obligated to provide, display, or do something for another; indebted, obliged for a bounden duty. Full definition →

Middle English biholden
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited frombiholden“beholden, obligated”
  2. English todaybeholden

From Middle English biholden (“beholden, obligated”), past participle of biholden (“to behold, look at”, modern behold), though that verb does not mean "to bind, obligate".

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishbiholden all →

behold

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.