teach

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To help someone learn something by giving them lessons or information.

   Can you teach me to swim?

2. 2
   verb

   To give lessons, especially as a job.

   She used to teach at a local primary school.

3. 3
   verb

   To show someone the bad results of something they did, often as a warning.

   That'll teach you to be more careful next time.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Teach is an Old English word that first meant “present” or “point out,” from which the sense “instruct” soon developed. It shares an ancient root with token.

From Middle English techen, from Old English tǣċan (“to show, declare, demonstrate; teach, instruct, train; assign, prescribe, direct; warn; persuade”), from Proto-West Germanic *taikijan, from Proto-Germanic *taikijaną (“to show”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”). Cognate with Scots tech, teich (“to teach”), German zeigen (“to show, point out”), zeihen (“accuse, blame”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽 (gateihan, “to announce, declare, tell, show, display”), Latin dīcō (“speak, say, tell”), Ancient Greek δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “show, point out, explain, teach”), Sanskrit दिशति (diśati, “to point out…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary