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forgive

/fɚˈɡɪv/
verb

FORGIVE means to pardon someone, and the seven-letter word scores 14 points in Scrabble, or 64 as a bingo.

NWL Collins ENABLE

Verb 4 meanings

  1. To pardon (someone); to waive any negative feeling towards or desire for punishment or retribution against.

    “Please forgive me if my phone goes off - I'm expecting an urgent call from my boss.”

  2. To pardon (something); to waive any negative feeling over or retribution for.

  3. To waive or remit (a debt), to absolve from payment or compensation of.

    “Forgive a debt, that is, tell a debtor that a repayment of a loan is no longer needed.”

  4. To accord forgiveness.

Definitions: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA) via Kaikki/Wiktextract

Where it comes from

Etymology

Alteration (due to give) of Middle English foryiven, forȝiven, from Old English forġiefan (“to forgive, to give”), from Proto-West Germanic *frageban, from Proto-Germanic *fragebaną (“to give away; give up; release; forgive”), equivalent to for- + give (etymologically for- + yive).

To FORGIVE is to pardon someone and let go of the wish to punish or blame them. The word can also apply to a thing, such as a debt or an offense. It sits at rank 4,586 in frequency, with a count of 71,915, and carries two 4-point tiles.

FORGIVE at a glance

  • It has seven letters: F, O, R, G, I, V, E.
  • Base score is 14, and F and V are worth 4 each.
  • FORGAVE is the only one-letter neighbour; no anagrams exist.
  • The bingo bonus lifts the total to 64.

What does FORGIVE mean?

The first sense is to pardon a person: to give up any negative feeling or desire for punishment against them. The second applies the same idea to an offense or fault, rather than to the person who committed it.

Both senses are verbs, and the past tense is FORGAVE, which is why that word is the lone neighbour. It differs from FORGIVE by one vowel, I to A.

What does a FORGIVE bingo score?

F4, O1, R1, G2, I1, V4 and E1 add up to 14. Use all seven tiles from your rack in one turn and the 50-point bonus takes the total to 64. F and V at 4 points each make up more than half of the 14 base points, so a premium square under either one is worth chasing.

FORGAVE also scores 14, since A and I are both worth 1. If your rack holds either vowel, you can play whichever one fits the board.

Which words look like FORGIVE?

The -IVE tail matches GIVE, LIVE, FIVE, DRIVE and POSITIVE in spelling, though the sounds vary. Of 33,788 seven-letter words, 1,451 start with F, about 4 percent, and 3,582 end in E, about 11 percent. So an E closing the word is the more common pattern, about two and a half times as frequent as an F opening.

Rhymes with forgive

All rhymes

One letter away

Change one letter, keep the rest
  • FORGAVE14

Questions people ask

How many points is forgive worth in Scrabble?
FORGIVE scores 14 points on tiles. F and V are worth 4 each, G is worth 2, and O, R, I and E are worth 1 each. A seven-tile bingo adds 50 for a total of 64.
What is the past tense of forgive?
The past tense is FORGAVE. It is also the only word one letter away from FORGIVE in the lexicon, since it swaps I for A, and it scores the same 14 points.
Does forgive have any anagrams?
No. FORGIVE has zero anagrams, so its seven letters spell only this word. Only a different rack can give you another bingo, and the single neighbour FORGAVE scores the same 14 points.

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