Etymology

forbear

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Today it means: To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from. Full definition →

Middle English forberen ← Old English forberan ← Proto-Germanic *fraberaną
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*pér
  3. Proto-Indo-European*pró
  4. Proto-Indo-European*pro-
  5. Proto-Germanic*fra-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*bʰer-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*bʰéreti
  8. Proto-Germanic*beraną
  9. Proto-Germanic*fraberaną
  10. Old Englishforberan
  11. Middle Englishforberen
  12. English todayforbear

From Middle English forberen, from Old English forberan (“to forbear, abstain from, refrain; suffer, endure, tolerate, humor; restrain; do without”), from Proto-Germanic *fraberaną (“to hold back, endure”); equivalent to for- + bear. Cognate with Old Frisian forbera (“to forfeit”), Middle High German verbërn (“to have not; abstain; refrain from; avoid”) (Cimbrian forbèeran), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽 (frabairan, “to endure”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.