Etymology

forbid

for·bid
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Today it means: To disallow; to proscribe. Full definition →

Middle English forbeden ← Old English forbēodan ← Proto-Germanic *furibeudaną
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*furibeudaną
  2. Old English · inherited fromforbēodan“to forbid, prohibit, restrain, refuse, repeal, annul”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromforbeden
  4. English todayforbid

From Middle English forbeden, from Old English forbēodan (“to forbid, prohibit, restrain, refuse, repeal, annul”), from Proto-Germanic *furibeudaną, from *furi + *beudaną. Equivalent to for- (“from, away”) + bid (“to offer, proclaim”). Cognate with Dutch verbieden (“to forbid”), German verbieten (“to forbid”), Danish forbyde (“to forbid”), Norwegian Bokmål forby (“to forbid”), Swedish förbjuda (“to forbid”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌱𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (faurbiudan). Related to forbode.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.