Etymograph

English

care

Care comes from Old English caru ‘worry, anxiety, care; sorrow’, from Proto-Germanic *karō ‘complaint, lament’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh₂r- ‘to shout, call’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵeh₂r-1‘to shout, call’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵoh₂réh₂1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*karō1‘complaint, lament; worry, sorrow’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*karu1‘care, worry’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150caru1‘worry, anxiety, care; sorrow’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500care1‘grief’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1595care1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English care
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: “More health and happiness betide my liege / Than…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵeh₂r-Wiktionary, English care‘to shout, call’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵoh₂réh₂Wiktionary, English carereconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*karōWiktionary, English care‘complaint, lament; worry, sorrow’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*karuWiktionary, English care‘care, worry’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150caruWiktionary, English care‘worry, anxiety, care; sorrow’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500careWiktionary, English care‘grief’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1595careWiktionary, English care. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: “More health and happiness betide my liege / Than…”

The story

Related also to Dutch karig (‘scanty’), German karg (‘sparse, meagre, barren’), Latin garriō, Ancient Greek γῆρυς (gêrus).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with care, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh₂r- ‘shout, call’

  • charm ← charme ← ċearm ← *karm ← *karmiz
  • garrulous ← garrulus ← garriō

13 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of care

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵeh₂r-‘voice, exclamation’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*karō‘complaint, lament, worry’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*karōną‘to care’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*karōn‘to care’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150carian‘to sorrow, grieve, be troubled, be anxious, to care for, heed’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500caren‘to care’
  7. Englishtodaycare

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Today it means

noun Close attention; concern; responsibility.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “care”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh₂r- / care