Etymology
From Middle English taken (“to take, lay hold of, grasp, strike”), from Old English tacan (“to grasp, touch”), probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse taka (“to touch, take”), from Proto-Germanic *tēkaną (“to touch”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₁g-, *dh₁g- (“to touch”). Gradually displaced Middle English nimen (“to take”), from Old English niman (“to take”). Cognate with Icelandic taka (“to take”), Danish tage (“to take, seize”), Middle Dutch taken (“to grasp”), Middle Low German tacken (“to grasp”). See tackle.
Pronunciation
Verb
take (third-person singular simple present takes, present participle taking, simple past took, past participle taken)
- (transitive) To grasp with the hands.
- (transitive) To grab and move to oneself.
- I’ll take that plate off the table.
- (transitive) To get into one's possession.
- (transitive) To accept.
- Do you take sugar in your coffee?
- We take all major credit cards.
- (transitive, military) To gain a position by force.
- After a bloody battle, they were able to take the city.
- (transitive) To have sex with.
- The rapist took his victims in dark alleys.
- (transitive) To carry, particularly to a particular destination.
- I'll take the plate with me.
- (transitive) To choose.
- I'll take the blue plates.
- (transitive) To support or carry without failing or breaking.
- That truck bed will only take two tons.
- (transitive) To endure or cope with.
- I can take the noise, but I can't take the smell.
- (transitive, baseball) To not swing at a pitch
- He’ll probably take this one.
- (transitive) To ingest medicine, drugs, etc.
- I take aspirin every day to thin my blood.
- (transitive, often with “for”) To assume or interpret to be.
- Do you take me for a fool?
- I take it you're not going?
- Looking at him as he came into the room, I took him for his father.
- He was often taken to be a man of means.
- (transitive) To enroll (in a class, or a course of study).
- I plan to take math, physics, literature and flower arrangement this semester.
- (transitive) To participate in, undergo, or experience.
- Aren't you supposed to take your math final today?
- When will you take your vacation?
- I had to take a pee.
- (transitive, climbing) To tighten (take up) a belaying rope. Often used imperatively.
- (transitive) To fight or attempt to fight somebody. (See also take on.)
- Don't try to take that guy. He's bigger than you.
- (intransitive) To stick, persist, thrive or remain.
- I started some tomato seeds last spring, but they didn't take.
- (intransitive) To become.
- They took ill within 3 hours.
- She took sick with the flu.
- (transitive, cricket) To catch the ball; especially for the wicket-keeper to catch the ball after the batsman has missed or edged it.
- (transitive) To require.
- Looks like it's gonna take a taller person to get that down.
- Finishing this on schedule will take a lot of overtime.
- (transitive, photography) To capture using a photographic camera.
- The photographer took a picture of our family.
- (transitive) To last or expend [an amount of time].
- I estimate the trip will take about ten minutes.
- (transitive) To use
- Let's take the bus today.
- This camera takes 35mm film.
- (transitive) To consider as an instance or example.
- I've had a lot of problems recently. Take last Monday. The car broke down on the way to work. Then ...etc.
- (obsolete, transitive) To deliver, give (something); to entrust.
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XIII:
- Now brynge me youre shylde that I toke you whan ye wente into batayle ayenst Kyng Tholome.
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew XXIII:
- Jesus perceaved there wylynes, and sayde: Why tempte ye me ye ypocrytes? lett me se the tribute money. And they toke hym a peny.
- (reflexive) To go.
- 2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge 2008, p. 59:
- Nicholas then took himself to Avignon where in August 1330 he formally renounced his claim to the papacy.
- (intransitive) To habituate to or gain competency at a task
- I take to swimming like a fish.
- (sports) To be the player who performs (a free kick, etc.).
- The kick is taken from where the foul occurred.
- Pirès ran in to take the kick.
- The throw-in is taken from the point where the ball crossed the touch-line.
Usage notes
In informal speech, especially in certain sociolects, took is sometimes replaced by the proscribed form taked.
Quotations
- 1611 — King James Version of the Bible, Luke 1:1
- Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us...
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
See also Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take
Terms derived from take (verb)
See also taken and taking
Translations
to grab with the hands
- Abkhaz: агара (ab) (agara)
- Afrikaans: neem (af)
- Albanian: merr (sq)
- Arabic: أَخَذَ (ar) (ʾáxaḏa) imperfect: يأخذ (ar) (yaʾxuḏu), مَسَكَ (ar) (másaka)
- Egyptian Arabic: خد (xad)
- Aramaic:
- Syriac: ܐܚܕ (ʼeħað)
- Armenian: վերցնել (hy) (verc'nel), առնել (hy) (aṙnel)
- Aromanian: ljeau (rup)
- Azeri: almaq (az)
- Belarusian: браць (be) (bracʹ) impf., ўзяць (be) (ŭzjacʹ), узяць (be) (uzjácʹ) pf.
- Bengali: গ্রহণ করা (bn) (grôhan kôra),language utilities|lookup_language|bn|names}}: নেওয়া (bn) (neoẇa)
- Bulgarian: вземам (bg) (vzémam) / взимам (bg) (vzímam) impf., взема (bg) (vzéma) pf.
- Burmese: ယူ (my) (yu)
- Catalan: agafar (ca), prendre (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 拿 (cmn) (ná), 取 (cmn) (qǔ)
- Czech: brát (cs) impf., vzít (cs) pf.
- Dalmatian: levur, prendar
- Danish: tage (da)
- Dutch: nemen (nl), pakken (nl)
- Estonian: võtma (et)
- Finnish: ottaa (fi)
- French: prendre (fr)
- Friulian: čhapâ, čholi, piâ
- Georgian: აღება (ka) (aḡeba)
- German: nehmen (de), greifen (de)
- Greek: παίρνω (el) (paírno)
- Haitian Creole: pran
- Hebrew: לָקַח (he) (lakákh)
- Hindi: लेना (hi) (lenā)
- Icelandic: taka (is), nema (is)
- Indonesian: mengambil (id)
- Interlingua: prender (ia)
- Irish: tóg (ga)
- Italian: prendere (it)
- Japanese: 取る (ja) (とる, toru), つかむ (ja) (つかむ, tsukamu)
- Jèrriais: prendre
- Kazakh: алу (kk) (alw)
- Khmer: យក (km) (yɔɔk)
- Korean: 잡다 (ko) (japda)
- Kyrgyz: алуу (ky) (aluu)
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- Lao: ເອົາ (lo) (ao)
- Latgalian: jimt
- Latin: capio (la), prehendo (la), sumo (la)
- Latvian: ņemt (lv)
- Lithuanian: imti (lt)
- Luxembourgish: huelen (lb)
- Macedonian: зема (mk) (zéma), грабнува (mk) (grábnuva)
- Maltese: ħa (mt)
- Mauritian Creole: pran
- Mongolian: авах (mn) (avah)
- Neapolitan: piglià
- North Frisian: naame
- Norwegian: ta (no), gripe (no)
- Ossetian: исын (isyn)
- Persian: گرفتن (fa) (gereftan)
- Polish: brać (pl) impf., wziąć (pl) pf.
- Portuguese: tomar (pt), agarrar (pt)
- Romanian: lua (ro)
- Romansch: prender (rm), piglier (rm)
- Russian: брать (ru) (bratʹ) impf., взять (ru) (vzjatʹ) pf., хватать (ru) (xvatátʹ) impf., схватить (ru) (sxvatít’) pf.
- Sardinian: leai (sc), leare (sc), lebare (sc), levare (sc)
- Scottish Gaelic: gabh (gd)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: узети (sh), зграбити (sh), шчепати (sh)
- Roman: uzeti (sh), zgrabiti (sh), ščepati (sh)
- Sinhalese: අරගන්නවා (si) (aragannavā)
- Slovak: brať (sk) impf., vziať (sk) pf.
- Slovene: brati (sl) impf., vzeti (sl) pf.
- Spanish: tomar (es)
- Swedish: fatta (sv), gripa (sv), ta (sv), ta (sv) tag (sv) i, hålla (sv) sig i
- Tajik: гирифтан (tg) (giriftan)
- Tamil: எடு (ta) (eṭu)
- Tatar: алырга (tt) (alırğa)
- Thai: เอา (th) (ao), หยิบ (th) (yìp)
- Turkish: almak (tr), tutmak (tr)
- Turkmen: almak (tk), tutmak (tk)
- Ukrainian: брати (uk) (bráty) impf., взяти (uk) (vzjáty) pf.
- Urdu: لینا (ur) (lenā)
- Uzbek: olmoq (uz)
- Vietnamese: nắm (vi)
- Welsh: mynd â (cy), dwyn (cy)
- Yiddish: נעמען (yi) (nemen)
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to grab and move to oneself
to get into one's possession
military: to gain a position by force
to carry
- Bakhtiari: بردن (borden)
- Catalan: portar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 攜帶 (cmn), 携带 (cmn) (xiédài, xīdài), 攜 (cmn), 携 (cmn) (xié), 帶 (cmn), 带 (cmn) (dài), 運 (cmn), 运 (cmn) (yùn)
- Czech: vzít (cs)
- Finnish: viedä (fi)
- Georgian: please add this translation if you can
- German: nehmen (de), tragen (de)
- Hebrew: נשא (he) (nasa) m
- Japanese: 運ぶ (ja) (はこぶ, hakobu)
- Ladino: yevar (lad)
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to support or carry without failing or breaking
to assume or interpret to be
to last or expend [an amount of time]
Noun
take (plural takes)
- An act of taking.
- Something that is taken; a haul.
- A profit, reward, bribe, illegal payoff or unethical kickback.
- He wants half of the take if he helps with the job.
- The mayor is on the take.
- An interpretation or view; perspective.
- What’s your take on this issue, Fred?
- (film) An attempt to record a scene.
- It’s a take.
- Act seven, scene three, take two.
- (rugby) A catch.
- (acting) A facial gesture in response to an event.
- I did a take when I saw the new car in the driveway.
- (cricket) A catch of the ball, especially by the wicket-keeper.
- (printing) The quantity or copy given to a compositor at one time.
Derived terms
Terms derived from take (noun)
Translations
act of taking
- Czech: vzetí n
- Hebrew: לקיחה (he) (lekicha) f
- Japanese: 取得 (ja) (shutoku)
- Macedonian: земање (mk) (zémanje) n
- Norwegian: fangst (no) m
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something that is taken
- Czech: vzaný m
- Japanese: 獲得 (ja) (kakutoku)
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film: attempt to record a scene
cricket: catch of the ball
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
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- Italian: prendere (2,5,9,10), portare (1,4,6), violentare (3, also to rape)
- Serbo-Croatian: узети (uzeti)
- Sicilian: pigghiari (2,5,9,10)
- Slovak: vziať, zobrať
- Turkish: almak(1,2,7), yakalamak(4), anlamak(5)
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See also
These need to be checked and put in the section for the noun or verb senses as appropriate
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