obey

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To do what a person, rule, or law tells you to do.

   You must obey the traffic laws.

2. 2
   verb

   To do as you are told without arguing.

   Soldiers are trained to obey without question.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Obey goes back to Latin oboedire, “pay attention to.” That verb combines ob-, meaning “towards” or “on account of,” with audire, “to hear,” so its history links obedience with attentive listening.

From Middle English obeyen, from Anglo-Norman obeir, obeier et al., Old French obeir, from Latin oboediō (also obēdiō (“to listen to, harken, usually in extended sense, obey, be subject to, serve”)), from ob- (“before, near”) + audiō (“to hear”). Compare audient. In Latin, ob + audire would have been expected to become Classical Latin *obūdiō (compare in + claudō becoming inclūdō), but it has been theorized that the usual law court associations of the word for obeying encouraged a false archaism from ū to oe, to oboediō (compare Old Latin oinos → Classical Latin ūnus).

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary