Etymograph

English

heed

Heed comes from Old English hēdan ‘to heed, take care, observe, attend, guard,…’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *hōdijan.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hōdijan1‘to heed, guard’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēdan1‘to heed, take care, observe, attend, guard, take charge, take possession, receive’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heden1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1567heed1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English heed
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1567, Ovid, Metamorphoses: “With pleasure Argus the musician heeds.”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hōdijanWiktionary, English heed‘to heed, guard’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēdanWiktionary, English heed‘to heed, take care, observe, attend, guard, take charge, take possession, receive’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hedenWiktionary, English heed
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1567heedWiktionary, English heed. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1567, Ovid, Metamorphoses: “With pleasure Argus the musician heeds.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- ‘to heed, protect’

hood, hut, 3 more

Today it means

noun Careful attention.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “heed”. 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-West Germanic *hōdijan / heed

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