Etymograph

English

need

Need comes from Middle English nede, a merger of Old English nīed, nēd ‘necessity, compulsion’ and nēod ‘desire, longing’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500nede‘need, necessity’
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1595need

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500nede‘need, necessity’
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1595need

Earliest quotation: c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet: “Famine is in thy cheeks; Need and oppression starveth…”

Every English word from Middle English nede

Another origin of need

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*new-‘to incline, push, move, nod, wave’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*newdʰ-‘seeking, need’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*niudi‘desire, eagerness’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150nēod‘desire, longing’
  5. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150nēodian‘to be necessary’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500neden‘to need’
  7. Englishtodayneed

Today it means

noun A requirement for something; something needed.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Middle English nede / need

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