Forgon

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An archaic past form of forgo, meaning something that has been given up, renounced, or done without
2. Used in older English as the past participle of forgo to describe what was surrendered or abandoned
3. An obsolete participle of forgo indicating that someone has relinquished, neglected, or passed by something

Etymology: Old English "forgān" meant to pass by, go past, or neglect. It was built from "for-", meaning away or against, and "gān", to go. Giving something up grew out of that idea of letting a thing go past you. Forms like "forgon" are older past-participle forms, likely surviving into Middle English before the modern "forgone" became standard. The spelling is tangled with a different word. "Forego" with an e comes from "fore-", meaning before, plus "go", so a "foregone conclusion" is one settled in advance, and "forego" once meant to precede. The two words sounded alike, and their spellings merged over time, so modern dictionaries accept both spellings for the sense of doing without.

Synonyms: forgo, renounce, relinquish