choose

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• chuse

Etymology 1

From Middle English chosen, chesen, from Old English ċēosan (“to choose, seek out, select, elect, decide, test, accept, settle for, approve”), from Proto-Germanic *keusaną (“to taste, choose”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to taste, choose, enjoy”). Cognate with Scots chose, chese (“to choose”), North Frisian kese (“to choose”), West Frisian kieze (“to choose”), Dutch kiezen (“to choose”), German kiesen (“to choose”), Danish kyse (“to choose”), Norwegian kjose (“to choose”), Swedish tjusa (“to charm, allure”), Icelandic kjósa (“to choose, vote, elect”), Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (kiusan, “to test”), Latin gustō (“taste, sample”, v).

Pronunciation

• enPR: cho͞oz, IPA: /tʃuːz/, X-SAMPA: /tSu:z/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːz
• Homophone: chews

Verb

choose (third-person singular simple present chooses, present participle choosing, simple past chose, past participle chosen)

1. To elect.

   He was chosen as president in 1990

2. To pick.

   I chose a nice, ripe apple from the bowl.

3. To decide to act in a certain way.

   I chose to walk to work today.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Related terms

• choice
• choosey
• chosen

Translations

to elect

• Arabic: اختار (ar) (ikhtaara)
• Armenian: ընտրել (hy) (əntrel) 
• Aromanian: aleg (rup)
• Asturian: escoyer (ast), elixir (ast)
• Basque: aukeratu (eu)
• Bulgarian: избирам (bg) (izbiram)
• Catalan: escollir (ca), triar (ca), elegir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 選舉 (cmn), 选举 (cmn) (xuǎnjǔ)

• Czech: volit (cs), zvolit (cs)
• Danish: vælge (da), kåre (da)
• Dutch: kiezen (nl), verkiezen (nl)
• Esperanto: elekti (eo)
• Estonian: valima (et)
• Finnish: valita (fi)
• French: élire (fr)
• Galician: elixir (gl)
• Georgian: ამორჩევა (ka) (amorčeva) 
• German: wählen (de)
• Greek: εκλέγω (el) (eklégo) 
• Hebrew: בחר (he) (bakhár)
• Hindi: चुनना (hi) (cunnā)
• Hungarian: megválaszt (hu), választ (hu)
• Icelandic: velja (is)
• Ilocano: pili
• Indonesian: memilih (id), pilih (id)
• Italian: eleggere (it)
• Japanese: 選ぶ (ja) (えらぶ, erabu)
• Korean: 고르다 (ko) (goreuda)

• Latin: ēligo (la), dīligo (la), lego (la)
• Latvian: izvēlēties (lv)
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: pilih (ms)
• Maltese: ħatar (mt), talla' (mt)
• Mongolian: сонгох (mn) (songoh) 
• Persian: برگزیدن (fa), انتخاب کردن (fa)
• Polish: wybierać (pl), wybrać (pl)
• Portuguese: escolher (pt)
• Quechua: akllay (qu)
• Romanian: alege (ro)
• Russian: выбирать (ru) (vybirát’)  impf., выбрать (ru) (výbrat’)  pf., избирать (ru) (izbirát’)  impf., избрать (ru) (izbrát’)  pf., взять (ru) (vzjat’) 
• Scots: wale
• Scottish Gaelic: tagh (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: изабрати (sh), одабрати (sh)

  Roman: izabrati (sh), odabrati (sh)

• Slovene: izvoliti (sl)
• Spanish: elegir (es)
• Swedish: välja (sv)
• Tagalog: pili (tl)
• Thai: เลือก (th) (lêuak), คัดเลือก (th) (kát lêuak)
• Turkish: seçmek (tr)
• Urdu: چننا (ur) (cunnā)
• Vietnamese: chọn (vi)
• Welsh: ethol (cy)
• Yiddish: קלײַבן (yi) (klaybn), אויסקלײַבן (yi) (oysklaybn)

to pick

• Arabic: اختار (ar) (ikhtaara)
• Armenian: ընտրել (hy) (əntrel) 
• Asturian: escoyer (ast), elixir (ast)
• Bulgarian: подбирам (bg) (podbiram), предпочитам (bg) (predpočitam)
• Catalan: triar (ca), escollir (ca), elegir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Gan: 簡, 简 (gan3)

  Mandarin: 選擇 (cmn), 选择 (cmn) (xuǎnzé), 挑選 (cmn), 挑选 (cmn) (tiāoxuǎn)

• Czech: volit (cs), zvolit (cs), vybrat (cs)
• Danish: udvælge (da), vælge (da), foretrække (da)
• Dutch: kiezen (nl), uitkiezen (nl)
• Finnish: valita (fi)
• French: choisir (fr)
• Galician: escoller (gl), elixir (gl)
• Georgian: ამორჩევა (ka) (amorčeva) 
• German: auswählen (de), wählen (de)
• Greek: διαλέγω (el) (dialégo) 
• Haitian Creole: chwazi
• Hebrew: בחר (he) (bakhár)
• Hindi: चुनना (hi) (cunnā)
• Hungarian: kiválaszt (hu)
• Ilocano: pili
• Italian: scegliere (it), selezionare (it)
• Japanese: 選ぶ (ja) (えらぶ, erabu)

• Jèrriais: chouaîsi
• Korean: 고르다 (ko) (goreuda)
• Latin: lego (la)
• Malay: pilih (ms)
• Maltese: għażel (mt)
• Maori: whiri (mi)
• Old English: ceosan (ang)
• Old Saxon: kiosan
• Persian: گزیدن (fa) (gazidan)
• Portuguese: escolher (pt)
• Quechua: akllay (qu)
• Romanian: alege (ro)
• Russian: выбирать (ru) (vybirát’)  impf., выбрать (ru) (výbrat’)  pf.
• Scottish Gaelic: tagh (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: изабрати (sh), одабрати (sh)

  Roman: izabrati (sh), odabrati (sh)

• Slovene: izbrati (sl)
• Spanish: escoger (es)
• Swedish: välja (sv)
• Tagalog: pili (tl)
• Thai: เลือก (th) (lêuak), คัดเลือก (th) (kát lêuak)
• Urdu: چننا (ur) (cunnā)
• Vietnamese: chọn (vi), lựa chọn (vi), kén chọn (vi)
• Welsh: dewis (cy)

to decide to act in a certain way

• Asturian: escoyer (ast), elixir (ast)
• Bulgarian: решавам (bg) (rešavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 決定 (cmn), 决定 (cmn) (juédìng)

• Danish: foretrække (da), have lyst (da), finde for godt (da)
• Dutch: kiezen (nl)
• Finnish: päättää tehdä
• French: décider (fr)
• German: entscheiden (de)
• Ilocano: pili
• Italian: decidere (it)

• Korean: 선택하다 (ko)
• Latin: lego (la)
• Maltese: iddeċieda (mt)
• Portuguese: escolher (pt), escolher (pt) m
• Romanian: vrea (ro), prefera (ro)
• Russian: решать (ru) (rešát')  impf., решить (ru) (rešít')  pf.
• Scottish Gaelic: tagh (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: одлучити (sh), одабрати (sh)

  Roman: odlučiti (sh), odabrati (sh)

• Spanish: escoger (es), elegir (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: zgjedh
• Esperanto: elekti
• Indonesian: pilih

• Norwegian: velge, utvelge, beslutte
• Spanish: elegir, escoger
• Tongan: fili

Conjunction

choose

1. (mathematics) The binomial coefficient of the previous and following number.

   The number of distinct subsets of size k from a set of size n is $\tbinom nk$ or "n choose k".

See also

• Binomial coefficient on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Binomial coefficient

Etymology 2

From Middle English chose, chos, chooce, from Middle English chosen (“to choose”). see above. Cognate with Scots chose (“choosing, choice, selection”).

Noun

choose (plural chooses)

1. (dialectal or obsolete) The act of choosing; selection.
2. (dialectal or obsolete) The power, right, or privilege of choosing; election.
3. (dialectal or obsolete) Scope for choice.

References

• choose in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• choose in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884-1928, and First Supplement, 1933

Anagrams

• cohoes