English
lose
Lose comes from Middle English losen, from Old English losian ‘to be lost’, a verb formed from los ‘loss’.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150los1‘loss’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150losian1‘to be lost, perish’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500losen1
- Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611lose1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English lose
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “He hath lost his fellows.”.
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150losWiktionary, English lose‘loss’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150losianWiktionary, English lose‘to be lost, perish’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500losenWiktionary, English lose
- Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611loseWiktionary, English lose. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “He hath lost his fellows.”
The story
The modern pronunciation with /uː/ (instead of the /oʊ~əʊ/ that would be expected from Early Modern /ɔː/) is due to conflation with loose.
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with lose, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- ‘to cut off, release’
- so ← sol ← solvō ← luō ← *luh₁éti
- analysis ← ἀνάλυσις ← ἀναλύω ← λύω
- solution ← solucioun ← solucion ← solūtiō ← solvō
- solve ← solven ← solvō ← luō ← *luh₁éti
- analyst ← analyste ← analyse ← ἀνάλυσις ← ἀναλύω
- lease ← lesen ← lēasian ← lēas ← *laus
- sol ← solvō ← luō ← *luh₁éti
- paralysis ← παράλυσις ← παραλύω ← λύω
- dialysis ← διάλυσις ← δῐᾰλῡ́ω ← λύω
- palsy ← palesie ← paralisie ← paralysis ← παράλυσις
- resolute ← resolutus ← resolvō ← solvō ← luō
- insoluble ← insolible ← insolūbilis ← solūbilis
33 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
verb To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “lose”. 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 / Old English los / lose