Where does “forsake” come from?

Forsake derives from Middle English forsaken, from Old English forsacan, from Proto-Germanic frasakaną, combining the prefix fra- with a root ultimately from Proto-Indo-European per- and bʰuH-.

forsake (English): To abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to renounce (someone or something)

Definitions

  1. To abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to renounce (someone or something)

Ancestry of “forsake”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishforsakento reject, deny
2Old Englishforsacanto oppose, give up (something), renounce
3Proto-Germanic*frasakan—

Words derived from “forsake”

Every word from Proto-Germanic *frasakan →Every word from Old English forsacan →Every word from Middle English forsaken →