different between forefather vs forbear

English

Etymology

From Middle English forefader, forfader, vorvader, from Old English f?refæder (“forefather”), but possibly also merged with Old Norse forfaðir. Equivalent to fore- +? father. Compare Dutch voorvader (“forefather”), German Vorvater, Vorfahr (“forefather”), Danish forfader (“forefather”), Swedish förfader (“forefather”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fô?fä'th?, IPA^(key): /?f???f??ð?/
• (General American) enPR: fôr?fä'th?r, IPA^(key): /?f???f??ð?/

Noun

forefather (plural forefathers)

1. Ancestor.^Wp

   • His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional men—physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill; an only brother at Montauk Point having sickened in the trenches before Santiago.

2. Cultural ancestor; one who originated an idea or tradition.

Translations

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English forberen, from Old English forberan (“to forbear, abstain from, refrain; suffer, endure, tolerate, humor; restrain; do without”), from Proto-Germanic *fraberan? (“to hold back, endure”); equivalent to for- +? bear. Cognate with Old Frisian forbera (“to forfeit”), Middle High German verbërn (“to have not; abstain; refrain from; avoid”) (Cimbrian forbèeran), Gothic ???????????????????????????????????? (frabairan, “to endure”).

Alternative forms

• forebear (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /f???b??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /f???b??/
• Rhymes: -??(r)

Verb

forbear (third-person singular simple present forbears, present participle forbearing, simple past forbore, past participle forborne or (archaic) forborn)

1. (transitive) To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from.
2. (intransitive) To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay.
3. (intransitive) To refuse; to decline; to withsay; to unheed.
4. (intransitive) To control oneself when provoked.

   • The kindest and the happiest pair / Will find occasion to forbear.

Derived terms

• forbearance
• forbearant
• forbearer
• forbearing
• forbearingly

Translations

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?f??.b??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?f??.b??/

Noun

forbear (plural forbears)

1. Alternative spelling of forebear
   • [1906] 2004, Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, Ethel Wedgwood tr.

     Sirs, I am quite sure that the King of England's forbears rightly and justly lost the conquered lands that I hold [...]

   • [1936] 2004, Raymond William Firth, We the Tikopia [2]

     One does not take one’s family name therefrom, and again the position of the mother in that group is determined through her father and his male forbears in turn; this too is a patrilineal group.

Anagrams

• forbare