different between heed vs observance

English

Etymology

From Middle English h?den, from Old English h?dan (“to heed, take care, observe, attend, guard, take charge, take possession, receive”), from Proto-Germanic *h?dijan? (“to heed, guard”), from Proto-Indo-European *kad?- (“to heed, protect”). Cognate with West Frisian hoedje (“to heed”), Dutch hoeden (“to heed”), German hüten (“to heed”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hi?d/
• Rhymes: -i?d
• Homophone: he'd

Noun

heed (uncountable)

1. Careful attention.
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     Then for a few minutes I did not pay much heed to what was said, being terribly straitened for room, and cramped with pain from lying so long in one place.

Usage notes

• Often used with give, pay or take.

Synonyms

• (careful attention): attention, notice, observation, regard; see also Thesaurus:attention

Translations

Verb

heed (third-person singular simple present heeds, present participle heeding, simple past and past participle heeded)

1. (obsolete) To guard, protect.
2. (transitive) To mind; to regard with care; to take notice of; to attend to; to observe.
   • 1567, John Dryden translating Ovid, Metamorphoses Book 1

     With pleasure Argus the musician heeds.

   • 2013 September 23, Masha Gessen, "Life in a Russian Prison," New York Times (retrieved 24 September 2013):

     Tolokonnikova not only tried to adjust to life in the penal colony but she even tried to heed the criticism levied at her by colony representatives during a parole hearing.
3. (intransitive, archaic) To pay attention, care.

Translations

Anagrams

• ehed, hede

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English h?afod, from Proto-Germanic *haubud? (“head”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h??d/, /?h?v?d/, /?h??v?d/, /?h?vd/, /?h??vd/

Noun

heed (plural heedes)

1. head (top portion of a human or animal, connected to the neck):
   1. The place where one's head rests (on a bed or when buried)
   2. That which covers the head; headwear or hair.
   3. The head as the origin of thought; intellect or one's brain.
   4. horns, antlers (of a cervid)
2. The chief, most renowned or most prominent thing or person in a group:
   1. boss, leader, executive
   2. capital city
3. start, origin
   1. The topmost end of a body of water or a geographical feature.
   2. One of the lengthwise ends of a geographic feature having more length than width.
   3. headwater
   4. The top end or peak of something; the uppermost point of something.
   5. The outermost extremity, point or projection of something.
4. The functional or useful end of a tool or device.
5. A rounded or head-shaped bump, boil, or similar protrusion.
6. One's ability to live (presumably as decapitation kills)
7. impetuousness, rashness, impatience; being unconsidered.
8. (by extension) individual; someone or somebody
9. (rare) military force or troop

Alternative forms

• hed, hede, heede, hedde, had, hade, head, heid, hiede, hide, heyd, hyede, hyde, het, heved, haved, hefed, hewed, hafed, haphed, hived, hyved, hefd, hefde, hevd, efd, hevid, hevyd
• heid, heifd, heyd, heyfd (Northern)
• hevod, heveð, heaved, heaveð, eaved, heafod, heafoð, heafad, hæved, hæfed, hæfedd, hæfved, hafved, heofod, hevet, hefet, heavet, hæfet, havet, heafd, heafde, hæfd, hæfde, heifd, heyfd, hafd, hafde, hifde, hyfde (early)

Related terms

• forheed
• heedles
• hoggeshed
• spere-hed

Adjective

heed

1. head

Descendants

• English: head
• Scots: heid
• Yola: haade, heade

References

• p. 1, Arthur; A Short Sketch of his Life and History in English Verse of the First Half of the Fifteenth Century, Frederick Furnivall ed. EETS. Trübner & Co.: London. 1864.
• “h?d, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-07-12.

Etymology 2

Noun

heed (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of hed (“heed”)

Etymology 3

Verb

heed

1. Alternative form of hadde: simple past/past participle of haven (“to have”)

English

Alternative forms

• observancy (obsolete)
• observaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French observance, from Latin observantia. Equivalent of observe +? -ance.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: ?b-zûr?v?ns, IPA^(key): /?b?z?v?ns/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?z??v?ns/
• Hyphenation: ob?ser?vance

Noun

observance (countable and uncountable, plural observances)

1. The practice of complying with a law, custom, command or rule.
2. The custom of celebrating a holiday or similar occasion.
3. Observation or the act of watching.
4. (religion) A rule governing a religious order, especially in the Roman Catholic church.
5. That which is to be observed.
6. Reverence; homage.

Antonyms

• misobservance

Derived terms

• hyperobservance
• misobservance

Translations

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p.s??.v??s/

Noun

observance f (plural observances)

1. observance

Related terms

• observable
• observant
• observateur
• observer

References

• “observance” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).