Etymology

behoof

B3E1H4O1O1F4

Today it means: That which is advantageous to a person; behalf, interest, advantage, profit, benefit. Full definition →

Middle English behoof ← Old English behōf ← Proto-West Germanic *bihōf
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*bihōf
  2. Old English · inherited frombehōf
  3. Middle English · inherited frombehoof
  4. English todaybehoof

From Middle English behoof, behof, from Old English behōf, from Proto-West Germanic *bihōf. Akin to Dutch behoef, German Behuf (“necessity”), Danish behov (“requirement”) (from Middle Low German). Related to have and heave.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.