# forsake

> English word · Verb · IPA /fɔːˈseɪk/ · frequency rank #32,404

## Definitions
1. To abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to renounce (someone or something).
2. To decline or refuse (something offered).
3. To avoid or shun (someone or something).
4. To cause disappointment to; to be insufficient for (someone or something).

## Etymology
From Middle English forsaken (“to abandon, desert, repudiate, withdraw allegiance from; to deny, reject, shun; to betray; to divorce (a spouse); to disown; to be false to (one's nature, vows, etc.); to give up, renounce, surrender; to discard; to omit; to decline, refuse, reject; to avoid, escape; to cease, desist; to evade, neglect; to contradict, refute; to depart, leave; to become detached, separate”) [and other forms], from Old English forsacan (“to oppose; to give up, renounce; to decline, refuse”), from Proto-West Germanic *frasakan (“to forsake, renounce”), from Proto-Germanic *fra- (prefix meaning ‘away, off’) + *sakaną (“to charge; to dispute”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to seek out”)). The English word can be analysed as for- + sake, and is cognate with Saterland Frisian ferseeke (“to deny, refuse”), West Frisian fersaakje, Dutch verzaken (“to renounce, forsake”), Middle High German versachen (“to deny”), Danish forsage (“to give up”), Swedish försaka (“to be without, give up”), Norwegian forsake (“to give up, renounce”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌰𐌽 (sakan, “to quarrel; to rebuke”), .

## Easily confused with
- **forsaken** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forsake-vs-forsaken)
- **forage** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forage-vs-forsake)
- **forgave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forgave-vs-forsake)
- **forbade** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forbade-vs-forsake)

## Common misspellings (10)
`fforsake`, `foraske`, `forrsake`, `forsaek`, `forsakke`, `forskae`, `forssake`, `fosrake`, `frosake`, `ofrsake`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/forsake