Behoove

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /bɪˈhuːv/

Definitions

1. To be necessary, appropriate, or beneficial under particular circumstances
2. To be suitable or required as a duty or responsibility
3. To be proper, advisable, or incumbent to do in a given situation

Etymology: "Behoove" is an unusual case: its ancestor in Old English, "behōfian," meant "to need" and was built on the same root as the word "behoof," meaning "advantage" or "benefit." The Old English verb itself never had the sense of duty or fitness that the modern word carries. That shift came later, as Middle English "behoven" and "bihoven" drifted from simply expressing need toward expressing what was necessary or obligatory, so that something behooved you when you were compelled to do it. The spelling reveals the change. The modern "behoove" with its "oo" reflects a later reshaping of the word in English, while its cousins across the Germanic languages keep a plainer, older feel. Dutch "behoeven," Swedish "behöva," and Danish "behøve" all still mean "to need," and German's obsolete "behufen" once carried the same sense, so the English word has moved further than its relatives from the idea of simple need toward the idea of obligation. The whole family traces back to a Proto-Germanic verb meaning "to benefit" or "to need," which descends from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to grab, seize." The thread from grabbing to needing runs through the notion of what one must seize or secure in order to get by.

Synonyms: obligate, require, necessitate