choose.
To pick; to make the choice of; to select.
Meaning & usage
To pick; to make the choice of; to select.
I chose a nice ripe apple from the fruit bowl.
To elect.
He was chosen as president in 1990.
To decide to act in a certain way.
I chose to walk to work today.
To prefer; to wish; to desire.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English chesen, from Old English ċēosan (“to choose, seek out, select, elect, decide, test, accept, settle for, approve”), from Proto-West Germanic *keusan, from Proto-Germanic *keusaną (“to test; to choose”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵéwseti (“to choose, taste”), from *ǵews- (“to taste, try”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian kjoze (“to choose”), West Frisian kieze (“to choose”), Dutch kiezen (“to choose”), Low German kesen (“to choose”), German kiesen (“to choose”), Danish kyse (“to frighten”), Faroese and Icelandic kjósa (“to vote; to elect; to choose; to prefer”), Norwegian Nynorsk kjosa, kjose (“to choose”), Swedish tjusa (“to charm; to bewitch”), Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (kiusan, “to test”), French choisir (“to choose”); also Breton diuz (“to choose”), Cornish and Welsh dewis (“to choose”), Latin gustō (“to taste, sample”), Ancient Greek γεύω (geúō, “to feed; to taste; to eat; to try; to enjoy”), Czech zkoušet (“to taste; to examine; to rehearse”), Polish kuszać (“to eat”), Russian кушать (kušatʹ, “to have a meal, to eat”), Serbo-Croatian ку̏шати, kȕšati (“to taste; to test”), Ukrainian ку́шати (kúšaty, “to taste; to eat”), куштува́ти (kuštuváty, “to taste”), Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬊𐬱𐬀 (zaoša, “pleasure”), Baluchi and Pashto دوست (dost, “friend”), Northern Kurdish and Zazaki dost (“friend”), Persian دوسْت (dōst / dust, “friend; boyfriend or girlfriend; loved”), Sanskrit जुषते (juṣate, “to enjoy”).
The binomial coefficient of the previous and following number.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English chesen, from Old English ċēosan (“to choose, seek out, select, elect, decide, test, accept, settle for, approve”), from Proto-West Germanic *keusan, from Proto-Germanic *keusaną (“to test; to choose”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵéwseti (“to choose, taste”), from *ǵews- (“to taste, try”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian kjoze (“to choose”), West Frisian kieze (“to choose”), Dutch kiezen (“to choose”), Low German kesen (“to choose”), German kiesen (“to choose”), Danish kyse (“to frighten”), Faroese and Icelandic kjósa (“to vote; to elect; to choose; to prefer”), Norwegian Nynorsk kjosa, kjose (“to choose”), Swedish tjusa (“to charm; to bewitch”), Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (kiusan, “to test”), French choisir (“to choose”); also Breton diuz (“to choose”), Cornish and Welsh dewis (“to choose”), Latin gustō (“to taste, sample”), Ancient Greek γεύω (geúō, “to feed; to taste; to eat; to try; to enjoy”), Czech zkoušet (“to taste; to examine; to rehearse”), Polish kuszać (“to eat”), Russian кушать (kušatʹ, “to have a meal, to eat”), Serbo-Croatian ку̏шати, kȕšati (“to taste; to test”), Ukrainian ку́шати (kúšaty, “to taste; to eat”), куштува́ти (kuštuváty, “to taste”), Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬊𐬱𐬀 (zaoša, “pleasure”), Baluchi and Pashto دوست (dost, “friend”), Northern Kurdish and Zazaki dost (“friend”), Persian دوسْت (dōst / dust, “friend; boyfriend or girlfriend; loved”), Sanskrit जुषते (juṣate, “to enjoy”).
The act of choosing; selection.
The power, right, or privilege of choosing; election.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English chose, chos, chooce, a Northern dialectal form of Middle English chois (“choice”). Cognate with Scots chose, choose, chuse (“choosing, choice, selection”). Doublet of choice, see which for more.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.