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Added 7 October 2026

need

/niːd/ noun

In Latin: necessitudo, necessitas, opus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about need at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A requirement for something; something needed.
There's no need to speculate; we can easily find out for sure.
A desire or craving for the satisfaction of a requirement perceived as essential or primal.
Lack of means of subsistence; poverty; indigence; destitution.

verb

To have an absolute requirement for.
Living things need water to survive.
To want strongly; to feel that one must have something.
After ten days of hiking, I needed a shower and a shave.
To be obliged or required (to do something).
I need not go if I don't want to, need I?

Origin

From Middle English need, nede, a merger of two terms: * Old English nīed (West Saxon), nēd (Mercian), nēad (“necessity, compulsion, want”), from Proto-West Germanic *naudi, from Proto-Germanic *naudiz, from Proto-Indo-European *neh₂w- (“death”). * Old English nēod (“desire, longing”), from Proto-West Germanic *niudi (“desire, eagerness”), from Proto-Indo-European *new- (“to incline, tend, move, push, nod, wave”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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