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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

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English

take

/ˈteɪ̯k/
To get into one's hands, possession, or control, with or without force.

    Etymology graph

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    • meaning component
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    Origin

    From Middle English taken (“to take, lay hold of, grasp, strike”), from Old English tacan (“to grasp, touch”), probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse taka (“to touch, take”). Alternatively, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *takan (“to take; grasp, touch”). Both from Proto-Germanic *tēkaną (“to touch”), from pre-Germanic *deh₁g- (“to touch”), possibly a phonetically altered form of Proto-Indo-European *te-th₂g- (“to touch, take”) (see there for details).

    Gradually displaced native English nim, from Middle English nimen, from Old English niman (“to take”).

    Cognates

    Cognate with Scots tak (“to take”), Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk taka (“to take”), Norwegian Bokmål ta (“to take”), Swedish ta (“to take”), Danish tage (“to take, seize”), West Frisian take, taakje (“to grab, steal”), Dutch taken (“to take; grasp”), Middle Low German tacken (“to grasp”). English thack may be from the same root. Compare tackle. Despite superficial similarity, unrelated to Proto-Indo-European *tek- (“to take by hand, obtain”), which is instead cognate with English thig (“to beg”).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • rootProto-Indo-European*teh₂g- “to touch, take”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishtaken “to take, lay hold of, grasp, strike”
      • inheritedOld Englishtacan “to grasp, touch”
        • derivedOld Norsetaka “to touch, take”
          • inheritedProto-West Germanic*takan “to take; grasp, touch”
            • inheritedProto-Germanic*tēkaną “to touch”

    Related: English thig, Scots tak, Norwegian Nynorsk taka, Norwegian Bokmål ta, Swedish ta, Danish tage, West Frisian take, Dutch taken, Middle Low German tacken

    Words built on it: take-in, take the time, long take, taken, taking

    Meanings

    verb
    1. To get into one's hands, possession, or control, with or without force.
    2. To seize or capture.
    3. To catch or get possession of (fish or game).
    4. To catch the ball; especially as a wicket-keeper and after the batsman has missed or edged it.
    5. To appropriate or transfer into one's own possession, sometimes by physically carrying off.
    6. To exact.
    noun
    1. An act of taking.
    2. Money that is taken in, (legal or illegal) proceeds, income; (in particular) profits; takings.
    3. The or a quantity of fish, game animals or pelts, etc which have been taken at one time; catch.
    4. An interpretation or view, opinion or assessment; perspective; a statement expressing such a position.
    5. An approach, a (distinct) treatment.
    6. A scene recorded (filmed) at one time, without an interruption or break; a recording of such a scene.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: take