Meanings
for-1
- idiomaticForth: prefixed to verbs to indicate a direction of 'away', 'off', 'forth'.
forban
5 more examples
forsteal
forloppin
fordrive
fortake
forthrow
- idiomaticExhausting: prefixed to verbs with the sense of wearing or exhausting oneself.
forsing
2 more examples
forwander
fortravel
- idiomaticDestructively: prefixed to verbs with the sense of destruction or pain.
fordo
2 more examples
forhang
forthink
- idiomaticWrongly: prefixed to verbs with the sense of wrongly, amorally.
forlead
4 more examples
forteach
forswear
forworship
forlive
- idiomaticNeglectfully: prefixed to verbs with the sense of abstaining from or neglecting.
forslip
2 more examples
forslug
forslack
- idiomaticMaking: prefixed to verbs to indicate the subject takes the character of the verb.
fordote
1 more example
forguilt
- idiomaticExcessively: prefixed to verbs with the sense of doing so in excessive or overwhelm.
forwax
2 more examples
forgrow
forhare
- idiomaticExcluding: prefixed to verbs to give the sense of prohibition or exclusion.
forbar
2 more examples
forjudge
forshut
- idiomaticThoroughly: prefixed to verbs with the sense of thoroughly, all over.
forgrow
3 more examples
forbathe
forseek
forwrap
for-2
for-3
Origin
for- · prefix
- Proto-Indo-European*pro-
- Proto-Germanic*fur-
- Proto-Germanic*fra-
- Old Englishfor-
- Middle Englishfor-
- Englishfor-
From Middle English for-, vor-, ver-, from Old English for-, fer-, fær-, fyr- (“far, away, completely”, prefix), from the merger of Proto-Germanic *fra- ("away, away from"; see fro, from) and Proto-Germanic *fur-, *far- (“through, completely, fully”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-, *per-, *pr-. Cognate with Scots for-, West Frisian fer-, for-, Dutch ver-, German ver-, Swedish för-, Danish for-, Norwegian for-, Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰- (fra-), Latin pro-. More at for.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →for- · prefix
- Old Englishfor-
- Englishfor-
From Old English for-, which is identical with the preposition "for". In "Old English and Middle English it occurs frequently as a variant of fore- prefix, with the senses ‘before’, ‘in front’, ‘on behalf of’, etc.; cf. Old English for-, forecuman to come before, Middle English forganger and foreganger n."
More words from Old English
Full word history & related roots →for- · prefix
"Occurring only in words adopted from French, as forcatch v., forfeit n., forprise n., represents Old French for-, fors-, identical with fors adv. (modern French hors) outside, out."
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
for-. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/for-
“for-.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/for-. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “for-,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/for-.
Source: for- on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.