Wiktionary

care

See also: Care, caré, căre, čáře, çare, çarë, and -care

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English care, from Old English caru, ċearu (“care, concern, anxiety, sorrow, grief, trouble”), from Proto-West Germanic *karu, from Proto-Germanic *karō (“care, sorrow, cry”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh₂r- (“shout, call”). Cognate with Old Saxon cara, kara (“concern, action”), Middle High German kar (“sorrow, lamentation”), Icelandic kör (“sickbed”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍂𐌰 (kara, “concern, care”). Related also to Dutch karig (“scanty”), German karg (“sparse, meagre, barren”), Latin garriō, Ancient Greek γῆρυς (gêrus). See also chary.

Noun

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care (countable and uncountable, plural cares)

  1. (obsolete) Grief, sorrow. [13th–19th c.]
  2. Close attention; concern; responsibility.
    Care should be taken when holding babies.
    • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
      I thank thee for thy care and honest pains.
    • 1925, Walter Anthony and Tom Reed (titles), Rupert Julian (director), The Phantom of the Opera, silent movie:
      ‘Have a care, Buquet—ghosts like not to be seen or talked about!’
  3. (countable, uncountable) Worry.
    I don’t have a care in the world.
    • 1956, Irving Berlin (lyrics and music), “Cheek to Cheek”:
      Yes, heaven, I’m in heaven / And the cares that hung around me through the week / Seem to vanish like a gambler’s lucky streak
  4. (uncountable) Maintenance, upkeep.
    dental care
  5. (uncountable) The treatment of those in need (especially as a profession).
    • 2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly‎[1], volume 189, number 2, page 10:
      The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.
  6. (uncountable) The state of being cared for by others.
    in care
  7. The object of watchful attention or anxiety.
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

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From Middle English caren, carien, from Old English carian (“to sorrow, grieve, be troubled, be anxious, to care for, heed”), from Proto-West Germanic *karōn (“to care”), from Proto-Germanic *karōną (“to care”).

Cognate with Old Saxon karōn (“to lament”), Middle High German karen, karn (“to complain, lament, grieve, mourn”), archaic German karen (“to groan, gasp”), Alemannic German karen, kären (“to groan, gasp”), Swedish kära (“to fall in love”), Icelandic kæra (“to care, like”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍂𐍉𐌽 (karōn, “to be concerned”).

Verb

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care (third-person singular simple present cares, present participle caring, simple past and past participle cared)

  2. (transitive, intransitive) To be concerned (about), to have an interest (in); to feel concern (about).
    She doesn’t care what you think.
    I don’t care, I’m still going.
    • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
      […] What cares these roarers [i.e. thunder] for the name of king? […]
    • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
      And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.
    • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:
      This newfound infatuation renders Bart uncharacteristically vulnerable. He suddenly has something to care about beyond causing trouble and makes a dramatic transformation from hell-raiser to gentleman about town.
    • 2019, Aries (lyrics and music), “Amy's Grave”, in Welcome Home‎[2]:
      No longer mind if I go / You pray enough, I might fall / Down, down, down, down, down / Why should I care what happens to me? / Why should I care what happens to me?
  3. (intransitive, polite, formal, chiefly in the negative) To want, to desire; to like; to be inclined towards or interested in.
    Would you care for another slice of cake?
    Would you care to dance?
    I don’t care to hear your opinion.
  4. (intransitive, informal, by extension) To be affected by, to treat as relevant for a subsequent course of action.
    • 2013, Addy Osmani, Developing Backbone.js Applications, page 175:
      An event aggregator facilitates a fire-and-forget model of communication. The object triggering the event doesn’t care if there are any subscribers. It just fires the event and moves on.
  5. (intransitive) (with for) To look after or look out for.
    Young children can learn to care for a pet.
    He cared for his mother while she was sick.
  6. (intransitive, Appalachia) To mind; to object.
    • 2006, Grace Toney Edwards, JoAnn Aust Asbury, Ricky L. Cox, A Handbook to Appalachia: An Introduction to the Region, Univ. of Tennessee Press, →ISBN, page 108:
      After introducing herself, the therapist then asked the patient if it would be all right to do the exercises which the doctor had ordered for her. The patient would response, "Well, I don't care to." For several days, the therapist immediately left the room and officially recorded that the patient had "refused" therapy. […] It was not until months later that this therapist […] discovered that she should have been interpreting "I don't care to" as "I don't mind" doing those exercises now.
Usage notes
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  • The sense “to want” is most commonly found as an interrogative or negative sentence, and may take a for clause (would you care for some tea?) or (as a catenative verb) takes a to infinitive (would you care to go with me?). See Appendix:English catenative verbs.
  • In the sense “to be concerned about”, care may idiomatically take a figurative amount as a direct object, as in the fixed phrase care a fig (equivalent to give a fig), or care one whit.
Conjugation
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Conjugation of care
infinitive (to) care
present tense past tense
1st-person singular care cared
2nd-person singular care, carest† cared, caredst†
3rd-person singular cares, careth† cared
plural care
subjunctive care cared
imperative care —
participles caring cared

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

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  1. ^ Stanley, Oma (1937) “I. Vowel Sounds in Stressed Syllables”, in The Speech of East Texas (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 2), New York: Columbia University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § 6, page 16.

Anagrams

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French

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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care

  1. inflection of carer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

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Italian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈka.re/
  • Rhymes: -are
  • Hyphenation: cà‧re

Adjective

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care f pl

  1. feminine plural of caro

Anagrams

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Latin

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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carē

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of careō

Adjective

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cāre

  1. vocative masculine singular of cārus

Adverb

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cārē (comparative cārius, superlative cārissimē)

  1. at a high price

References

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  • “care”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “care”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • care in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Middle English

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Etymology

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From Old English caru, ċearu (“care, concern, anxiety, sorrow, grief, trouble”), from Proto-West Germanic *karu, from Proto-Germanic *karō. See Modern English care for more.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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care (plural cares)

  1. grief; sorrow [from 13th c.]

Descendants

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  • English: care
  • Scots: care
  • Yola: caure, caare, caar

References

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Old English

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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care

  1. accusative/genitive/dative singular of caru

Pali

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Alternative forms

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Alternative scripts

Noun

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care

  1. inflection of cara (“walker; frequenting”):
    1. locative singular
    2. accusative plural

Verb

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care

  1. first-person singular present/imperative middle of carati (“to walk”)
  2. optative active singular of carati (“to walk”)

Romanian

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Latin quālis, quālem. Compare Italian quale, Provençal car, Ligurian quar and Aromanian cari, cai, care.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈka.re/
  • Rhymes: -are
  • Hyphenation: ca‧re

Determiner

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care

  1. which
    Care din aceste jocuri este nou?
    Which of these games is new?
Inflection
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declension of care
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative/accusative care care care care
genitive/dative cărui cărei căror căror

Pronoun

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care

  1. which, that, who
    El este un om care a văzut foarte multe lucruri.
    He is a man who has seen very many things.

Etymology 2

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Noun

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care n pl

  1. plural of car (“cart”)

Etymology 3

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Verb

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care

  1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of căra

References

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Venetan

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Adjective

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care f

  1. feminine plural of caro
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