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Origin and history of neglect

neglect(v.)

1520s, "omit to do or perform;" 1530s, "treat carelessly or heedlessly, treat with disrespect or without proper attention or care;" from Latin neglectus, past participle of neglegere "to make light of, disregard, be indifferent to, not heed, not trouble oneself about," literally "not to pick up," variant of neclegere, from Old Latin nec "not" (from PIE root *ne- "not") + legere "pick up, select," from PIE root *leg- (1) "to collect, gather." Related: Neglected; neglecting.

neglect(n.)

1580s, "act of treating with slight attention;" 1590s, "omission, oversight, want of attention to what ought to be done;" from neglect (v.) or from Latin neglectus "a neglecting," noun use of past participle of neglegere.

also from 1580s

Entries linking to neglect

neglected(adj.)

"not treated with proper care or attention," c. 1600, past-participle adjective from neglect (v.). Related: Neglectedness.

neglectful(adj.)

"characterized by inattention or indifference," 1640s, from neglect (n.) + -ful. Related: Neglectfully; neglectfulness. Earlier in same sense was neglective (1610s).

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negligence
"heedless disregard of duty, inactivity, indifference, habit of omitting to do things which ought to be done," mid-14c., necligence, from Old French negligence "negligence, sloth; injury, injustice" (12c.), and directly from Latin neclegentia, neglegentia "carelessness, heedlessn
fail
c. 1200, "be unsuccessful in accomplishing a purpose;" also "cease to exist or to function, come to an end;" early 13c. as "fail in expectation or performance," from Old French falir "be lacking, miss, not succeed; run out, come to an end; err, make a mistake; be dying; let down,
drop
Middle English drope, from Old English dropa "a small, spherical mass of liquid," from Proto-Germanic *drupon (source also of Old Saxon dropo, Old Norse dropi, Dutch drop, Old High German tropfo, German Tropfen (n.)); see drop (v.). Sense of "minute quantity of anything, least po
crantara
"[S]o called because neglect of the symbol implied infamy" [Century Dictionary]....
disoblige
c. 1600, "to free from obligation;" 1630s, "to refuse or neglect to oblige," from French désobliger (c. 1300), from des-...
omission
mid-14c., omissioun, "a neglect or failure to do what one has power to do or ought to do," from Anglo-French omission (early...
site
Latin situs "a place, position, situation, location, station; idleness, sloth, inactivity; forgetfulness; the effects of neglect...
prod
1530s, "to poke with a stick," of uncertain origin; possibly [Barnhart, Century Dictionary] a variant of brod, from Middle English brodden "to goad," from Old Norse broddr "shaft, spike" (see brad), or perhaps imitative [OED]. Compare dialectal prog "pointed instrument for poking
decline
late 14c., "to turn aside, deviate" (a sense now archaic), also "sink to a lower level," and, figuratively, "fall to an inferior or impaired condition," from Old French decliner "to sink, decline, degenerate, turn aside," from Latin declinare "to lower; avoid, deviate; bend from,
declination
late 14c., declinacioun, in astronomy, "distance of a heavenly body from the celestial equator, measured on a great circle passing through the body and the celestial pole," from Old French declinacion (Modern French déclinaison) and directly from Latin declinationem (nominative d

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