caregiver

See also: care-giver

English

Alternative forms

• care-giver

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh₂r-der.

Proto-Germanic *karō

Proto-West Germanic *karu

Old English caru

Middle English care

English care

English giver

English caregiver

From care + giver.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛəɡɪvə/, /ˈkɛːɡɪvə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛɹɡɪvɚ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

caregiver (plural caregivers)

1. (Canada, US, Philippines) A carer; a person who looks after another person.

   Synonym: carer (UK, Australia)

   Antonym: caree

   Coordinate term: practitioner

   • 2020 March 16, Matt Villano, “How ‘regular school’ parents can homeschool their kids”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     The coronavirus has turned caregivers around the world into homeschoolers.

   • 2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 76:

     ‘Caregivers in this role can suffer as much as the patients. It can be very stressful.’

   • 2024 October 6, Jeanne Sahadi, “How companies can ease the strain on employees taking care of elderly parents or ill family members”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     Taking care of an elderly parent or seriously ill spouse or family member can be physically and emotionally draining — and expensive for the caregiver in more ways than one.

Usage notes

• The term now usually means someone, such as a family member, who helps with activities of daily living (e.g., feeding, bathing, dressing, transportation, household administration), often as unpaid labor, as contrasted with a health care practitioner; for clarity, writers often maintain this distinction by reserving this term to the nonprofessional sense.

Derived terms

• caregive
• caregiver register
• noncaregiver

Related terms

• caregiving
• caretaker (not to be confused)
• home carer

Translations

carer — see carer