[Ads-l] to caregive

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Fri Apr 22 15:37:51 UTC 2022


Another back-formed compound verb for the annals from our local
Neighborhood users group, Nextdoor Whitneyville:

Not sure what the rights are here. I *caregive* for a 35 year old woman who
has physical disability. She was recently getting ketamine treatment...

Note that to "caregive" ('serve as caregiver') ≠ to give care
It's not a hapax legomenon.  Google yields many many hits, both with and
without a "for"-initial prepositional phrase, e.g.

I caregive for my mom with Alzheimer's and I take meds for hypertension.

I caregive because it comes from a deep value held in my heart.

What if I caregive when he's capable of more than I think?
[from _They Almost All Come Home_, via Google Books]

and my favorite:
Can I claim a client I caregive for and we're living together but I don't
receive any pay for being his caregiver?
<https://www.agingcare.com/questions/can-i-claim-a-client-i-caregive-for-and-were-living-together-but-i-dont-receive-any-pay-455744.htm>
"caregive" is not in the OED, although "caregiver" now is for what the
British call "carer":

caregiver  n. originally U.S. a carer, either  (a) a person, typically
either a professional or close relative, who looks after a disabled or
elderly person, invalid, etc.;  (b) a parent, foster-parent, or social
services professional, who provides care for an infant or child.
[first cite 1966]

LH

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