care
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /kɛə/
enpr: kâr
ipa: /kɛɚ/
ipa: [kʰe(ə̯)ɹ]
ipa: [kʰɛ(ə̯)ɹ]
enpr: kêr
ipa: /kɪə(ɹ)/
ipa: /keː/
note: without the cheer–chair merger
ipa: /keə/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /kiə/
ipa: /keɹ/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
ipa: /kɜː(ɹ)/
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
homophone: Keir (cheer–chair merger)
homophone: cur (fair–fur merger)
Forms: form: cares
form: caring
form: cared
form: cared
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: care
form: care
form: cared
form: care
form: carest
form: cared
form: caredst
form: cares
form: careth
form: cared
form: care
form: cared
form: care
form: cared
form: care
form: -
form: caring
form: cared
Etymology: From Middle English caren, carien, from Old English carian (“to sorrow, grieve, be troubled, be anxious, to care for, heed”), from Proto-West Germanic *karōn (“to care”), from Proto-Germanic *karōną (“to care”).
Cognate with Old Saxon karōn (“to lament”), Middle High German karen, karn (“to complain, lament, grieve, mourn”), archaic German karen (“to groan, gasp”), Alemannic German karen, kären (“to groan, gasp”), Swedish kära (“to fall in love”), Icelandic kæra (“to care, like”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍂𐍉𐌽 (karōn, “to be concerned”).
Senses: examples: text: She doesn’t care what you think.
text: I don’t care, I’m still going.
text: […] What cares these roarers [i.e. thunder] for the name of king?[…]
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.
ref: 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
text: This newfound infatuation renders Bart uncharacteristically vulnerable. He suddenly has something to care about beyond causing trouble and makes a dramatic transformation from hell-raiser to gentleman about town.
ref: 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:
text: No longer mind if I go / You pray enough, I might fall / Down, down, down, down, down / Why should I care what happens to me? / Why should I care what happens to me?
ref: 2019, Aries, “Amy's Grave”, in Welcome Home:
glosses: To be concerned (about), to have an interest (in); to feel concern (about).
examples: text: Would you care for another slice of cake?
text: Would you care to dance?
text: I don’t care to hear your opinion.
glosses: To want, to desire; to like; to be inclined towards or interested in.
raw_tags: in the negative
examples: text: An event aggregator facilitates a fire-and-forget model of communication. The object triggering the event doesn’t care if there are any subscribers. It just fires the event and moves on.
ref: 2013, Addy Osmani, Developing Backbone.js Applications, page 175:
glosses: To be affected by, to treat as relevant for a subsequent course of action.
examples: text: Young children can learn to care for a pet.
text: He cared for his mother while she was sick.
glosses: (with for) To look after or look out for.
examples: text: After introducing herself, the therapist then asked the patient if it would be all right to do the exercises which the doctor had ordered for her. The patient would response, "Well, I don't care to." For several days, the therapist immediately left the room and officially recorded that the patient had "refused" therapy. […] It was not until months later that this therapist […] discovered that she should have been interpreting "I don't care to" as "I don't mind" doing those exercises now.
ref: 2006, Grace Toney Edwards, JoAnn Aust Asbury, Ricky L. Cox, A Handbook to Appalachia: An Introduction to the Region, Univ. of Tennessee Press, →ISBN, page 108:
glosses: To mind; to object.
Synonyms: word: becare
word: bother
word: care
word: concern oneself
word: mind
word: reck
word: trouble oneself
word: worry
Hyponyms: word: care a button
word: care a jackstraw
word: care a fig
word: care a hang
word: care a hoot
word: care a monkey's
word: care a rat's ass
word: care a rat's arse
word: care a whit
word: give a crap
word: give a damn
word: give a darn
word: give a fig
word: give a fuck
word: give a flying fuck
word: give a flying shit
word: give a hang
word: give a hoot
word: give a light
word: give a monkey's
word: give a rat's arse
word: give a rat's ass
word: give a rip
word: give a shit
word: give a tin shit
word: give a tinker's
word: give a tinker's cuss
word: give a tinker's damn
word: give a tinker's toss
word: give a toss
word: give two hoots
word: give two squirts
word: give two squirts of piss
word: give two shits
Derived terms: becare
care a button
care a fig
care a jackstraw
care a monkey's
care a pin
care a whit
care for
carer
could care fewer
could care less
could not care less
couldn't care less
couldn't-care-less
devil-may-care
facts don't care about your feelings
hell if I care
I don't care
long hair don't care
if I care
sharing is caring
uncare
what do I care
Related terms: word: couldn't care less
word: I don't care
word: who cares
word: zero fucks given