for

Meanings

1. 1
   prep

   Intended to belong to or be given to someone.

   I have a present for you.

2. 2
   prep

   In order to help or benefit someone or something.

   She did it all for her children.

3. 3
   prep

   With a particular purpose or use.

   This knife is for cutting bread.

4. 4
   prep

   In support of or in favour of something.

   Everyone who is for the plan, please raise your hand.

5. 5
   conj

   Because.

   I stayed at home, for I had nowhere else to go.

Common collocations

• ask for Verb + preposition/particle
• listen for Verb + preposition/particle
• run for Verb + preposition/particle
• try for Verb + preposition/particle
• sit for Verb + preposition/particle

From Middle English for, from Old English for (“for, because of”), from Proto-Germanic *furi (“for”), from Proto-Indo-European *preh₂-. Cognate with West Frisian foar (“for”), Dutch voor (“for”), German für (“for”), Danish for (“for”), Swedish för (“for”), Norwegian for (“for”), Icelandic fyrir (“for”), Latin per (“by, through, for, by means of”) and Romance language descendants (e.g. Spanish por (“for”)), Ancient Greek περί (perí, “for, about, toward”), Lithuanian per (“by, through, during”), Slovak pre (“for”), Sanskrit परि (pári, “over, around”).

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