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abandon

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abandon¹

  • /əˈbæn.dən/ Australia, Canada, US, UK
  • /əˈban.dən/ British, Northern England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales
  • /əˈbɛn.dən/ New Zealand

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd

Proto-Italic *ad

Latin ad

Old French a

Proto-Germanic *bannanąder.

Frankish *bannder.

Old French ban

Proto-Indo-European *deh₃-

Proto-Indo-European *-r̥

Proto-Indo-European *dóh₃r̥ ~ *déh₃n̥s

Proto-Indo-European *-om

Proto-Indo-European *déh₃nom

Proto-Italic *dōnom

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Proto-Italic *dōnāō?

Latin donāre

Old French doner

Old French a ban doner

Old French abandonerder.

Middle English abandounen

English abandon

From Middle English abandounen, from Old French abandoner, formed from a (“at, to”) + bandon (“jurisdiction, control”), from Late Latin bannum (“proclamation”), bannus, bandum, from Frankish *ban, *bann, from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“to proclaim, command”) (whence English ban), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”). See also ban, banal.

Displaced Middle English forleten (“to abandon”), from Old English forlǣtan, anforlǣtan; see forlet; and Middle English forleven (“to leave behind, abandon”), from Old English forlǣfan; see forleave.

Compare typologically abdicate, Russian отказа́ться (otkazátʹsja) (akin to приказа́ть (prikazátʹ), сказа́ть (skazátʹ), указа́ть (ukazátʹ)).

verb abandons · abandoning · abandoned · abandon

  1. transitive To give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions. […] he abandoned himself […] to his favourite vice.
  2. transitive To desist in doing, practicing, following, holding, or adhering to; to turn away from; to permit to lapse; to renounce; to discontinue. In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […] The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra–wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.
  3. transitive To leave behind; to desert, as in a ship, a position, or a person, typically in response to overwhelming odds or impending dangers; to forsake, in spite of a duty or responsibility. Many baby girls have been abandoned on the streets of Beijing.
  4. obsolete, transitive To subdue; to take control of.
  5. obsolete, transitive To cast out; to banish; to expel; to reject. Being all this time abandoned from your bed.
  6. transitive To no longer exercise a right, title, or interest, especially with no interest of reclaiming it again; to yield; to relinquish. I hereby abandon my position as manager.
  7. transitive To surrender to the insurer (an insured item), so as to claim a total loss.

Similar: abdicate, abjure, blin, cast aside, cease, cede, deliver up, depart from, desert, desist from, discontinue, dispense with

abandon²

  • /əˈbæn.dən/ Australia, Canada, US, UK
  • /əˈban.dən/ British, Northern England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales
  • /əˈbɛn.dən/ New Zealand

Where it comes from

From Middle English abandoun, from Old French abandon, from Old French abondonner.

noun abandons

  1. countable, uncountable A yielding to natural impulses or inhibitions; freedom from artificial constraint, with loss of appreciation of consequences. (Now especially in the phrase with abandon.) with gay abandon, with wild abandon, with reckless abandon
  2. countable, obsolete, uncountable Abandonment; relinquishment.

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