Etymology
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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).[1]
Pronunciation
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obey (third-person singular simple present obeys, present participle obeying, simple past and past participle obeyed)
- (transitive) To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of.
obey the rules
obey your boss
- (intransitive) To do as one is told.
Soldiers are trained to obey.
- (obsolete, intransitive) To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).
Synonyms
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Antonyms
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Derived terms
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Related terms
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Translations
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to do as ordered by
- Arabic: أَطَاعَ (ʔaṭāʕa)
- Egyptian Arabic: طاوع (ṭāwiʕ)
- Armenian: հնազանդվել (hy) (hnazandvel)
- Azerbaijani: itaət etmək
- Belarusian: падпарадко́ўвацца impf (padparadkóŭvacca), падпара́дкавацца pf (padparádkavacca), пакара́цца impf (pakarácca), пакары́цца pf (pakarýcca)
- Bulgarian: подчиня́вам се (bg) impf (podčinjávam se), покоря́вам се (bg) impf (pokorjávam se)
- Burmese: နားထောင် (my) (na:htaung), ပန်ရွက် (my) (panrwak)
- Catalan: obeir (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 服從/服从 (zh) (fúcóng), 遵守 (zh) (zūnshǒu)
- Czech: poslouchat (cs) impf
- Danish: adlyde (da) c, lystre c, lyde c
- Dutch: gehoorzamen (nl)
- Esperanto: obei (eo)
- Finnish: totella (fi), noudattaa (fi)
- French: obéir (fr), obtempérer (fr)
- Friulian: ubidî
- Galician: obedecer (gl)
- Georgian: დამორჩილება (damorčileba), გაგონება (gagoneba)
- German: gehorchen (de)
- Gothic: 𐌿𐍆𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (ufhausjan)
- Greek: υπακούω (el) (ypakoúo)
- Ancient: ὑπακούω (hupakoúō)
- Hindi: आज्ञा मानना (ājñā mānnā), इताअत करना (itāat karnā)
- Hungarian: engedelmeskedik (hu), betart (hu), követ (hu), tiszteletben tart
- Ingrian: kuulla, hoolia
- Irish: géill do
- Italian: obbedire (it), ubbidire (it)
- Japanese: 従う (ja) (したがう, shitagau), 服従する (ja) (ふくじゅうする, fukujū suru)
- Kabuverdianu: obi, uví
- Kapampangan: pamintuan
- Khmer: ស្ដាប់ (km) (sdap), ស្ដាប់បង្គាប់ (sdap bɑngkŏəp)
- Korean: 복종하다 (ko) (bokjonghada)
- Lao: ເຊື່ອຟັງ (sư̄a fang)
- Latin: audio (la), obaudio, oboedio (la), pareo (la)
- Malayalam: അനുസരിക്കുക (ml) (anusarikkuka)
- Maori: mau, ū, whakarongo
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: захирагдах (zaxiragdax)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: lyde, adlyde
- Old Church Slavonic: послоушати impf or pf (poslušati)
- Old English: hīeran
- Oromo: abboomamuu
- Persian: اطاعت کردن (fa) (etâ'at kardan)
- Piedmontese: ubidì
- Plautdietsch: jehorchen
- Polish: przestrzegać (pl) impf
- Portuguese: obedecer (pt)
- Quechua: kasukuy
- Romanian: a se supune (ro)
- Russian: подчиня́ться (ru) impf (podčinjátʹsja), подчини́ться (ru) pf (podčinítʹsja), повинова́ться (ru) impf or pf (povinovátʹsja), покоря́ться (ru) impf (pokorjátʹsja), покори́ться (ru) pf (pokorítʹsja)
- Slovak: poslúchať impf, poslúchnuť pf
- Spanish: obedecer (es)
- Swahili: kutii (sw)
- Swedish: lyda (sv)
- Tajik: итоат кардан (itoat kardan)
- Thai: เชื่อฟัง (th) (chʉ̂ʉa-fang)
- Turkish: saymak (tr)
- Ukrainian: підкоря́тися impf (pidkorjátysja), підкори́тися pf (pidkorýtysja), кори́тися (korýtysja)
- Urdu: اطاعت کرنا (itā'at karnā)
- Uzbek: itoat etmoq
- Vietnamese: phục tùng (vi), tuân theo (vi)
- Welsh: ufuddhau (cy)
- Yiddish: פֿאָלגן (folgn)
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to be obedient, compliant
Further reading
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- “obey”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “obey”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
References
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Anagrams
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