The story
- Old English · inherited frombehōfian“to need”
- Middle English · inherited frombehoven
- English todaybyhove
From Middle English behoven, from Old English behōfian (“to need”), from behōf (“advantage, behoof, profit; need”). Cognate with Swedish behöva and Dutch behoeven.
Words from the same roots
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.