need – English noun declension

English noun forms of need

Noun: need
Singularneed
Pluralneeds

Sample Sentences

  • There's no need to speculate; we can easily find out for sure.
  • She grew irritated with his constant need for attention.
  • Our needs are not being met.
  • I've always tried to have few needs beyond food, clothing and shelter.
  • Being so great, I have no need to beg. [1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:]
  • Be governed by your needs, not by your fancy. [1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:]
  • One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains.[…]But out of sight is out of mind. And that, together with the inherent yuckiness of the subject, means that many old sewers have been neglected and are in dire need of repair. [2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:]
  • Famine is in thy cheeks;
  • Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes. [c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:]

Etymology

1. From Middle English need, nede, a merger of two terms:
2. * 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”).
3. * Old English nēod (“desire, longing”), from Proto-West Germanic *niudi (“desire, eagerness”), from Proto-Indo-European *new- (“to incline, tend, move, push, nod, wave”).

Verbs referencing "need"

German Nouns Not, Old Norse Nouns nauð, Swedish Nouns nöd.