/tʃuːz/
[verb] To pick one thing or person from a group of options, deciding that it is the one you want or prefer. It can also mean to decide to do something in a particular way.
The word 'choose' is a rare survivor from a Proto-Indo-European root so ancient it also gave Latin its word for 'taste'.
The word 'choose' stretches back to Old English, where it appeared as 'ceosan', meaning to pick, select, or decide between options. This was a strong verb — the kind whose past tense changed the vowel sound rather than simply adding '-ed' — and you can still see this quirky quality today in the irregular pair 'choose / chose'. Old English 'ceosan' was used in practical, everyday contexts: choosing a path, choosing a leader, choosing a course of action. It carried weight and intention, suggesting a deliberate act of will rather than a casual preference.
Trace the word further back and you arrive at Proto-Germanic '*kausaną', the common ancestor shared by several related languages. From this same root came Old Norse 'kjósa', Old Frisian 'kiāsa', and Old Saxon 'kiosan', all carrying the same core idea of picking or selecting. This gives us a vivid picture of early Germanic-speaking peoples sharing not just a word but a concept — the idea that choosing was an action worthy of a dedicated term, distinct from simply taking or using something.
Go back even further, and the trail leads to the Proto-Indo-European root '*ǵews-', which carried the meaning of tasting or trying something. This is where the story becomes wonderfully surprising. That ancient root '*ǵews-' also flowed into Latin, but there it became 'gustare', meaning to taste — giving English, via Old French 'goûter', the words 'gusto', 'disgust', and 'gustatory'. So at their deepest roots, 'choose' and 'disgust' are distant cousins: both descend from an idea of testing something with the senses before deciding whether to accept it.
When the Normans arrived in England in 1066, French flooded into the English language, and many Old English words were pushed aside or replaced. Remarkably, 'ceosan' survived this upheaval, evolving steadily through Middle English as 'chosen' and 'chesen' before settling into the modern form 'choose'. French offered alternatives like 'choisir' — itself from Germanic origins — but the native English word held its ground, remaining the dominant verb for selection.
Over the centuries, 'choose' shed some of its older forms. It once had a past participle 'chosen', which survives today in phrases like 'the chosen one', carrying an almost sacred weight. Its meaning, however, has remained impressively stable: this is a word that has meant more or less the same thing for over a thousand years. In an age when words constantly shift and stretch into new shapes, 'choose' is a quiet monument to continuity — a word our Anglo-Saxon ancestors would recognise instantly if they heard it spoken today.