Other forms: neglected, neglecting, neglects
To neglect something is to fail to give it the care it needs. The plant on the windowsill nobody waters; the letters piling up unopened on the mat; a father who works late through every year of his son's childhood.
Neglect is not the same as forgetting — it carries blame, and it carries time. A thing is neglected over months and years, not for a minute. It is a noun as well: the house fell into neglect, a case of child neglect, the neglect of the railways. There is a quieter use where neglect means simply fail to — he neglected to mention that the car had been in a crash — which is polite wording for a real omission. The adjective is neglected for the thing and neglectful for the person: a neglected building, neglectful parents.
1verbneglectTo fail to give a person or thing the care and attention they need.
“He neglected the garden all summer and the weeds took over.”
2verbdoneTo fail to do something you should have done.
“She neglected to tell them the flight had been moved.”
3nounstateThe state of being uncared for, or the failure to give care.
“Years of neglect had left the roof leaking in three places.”
Latin had legō, to pick up or gather, and put nec, 'not', in front of it: neglegō, to make light of, to not pick up. That is still exactly what neglect means — the thing lies there and nobody picks it up. It reached English around 1460 as neglecten, with the noun following a century or so later. The old root, Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-, is the gathering one.
Proto-Indo-European
*leǵ-
Latin
neglēctus
Middle English
neglecten
English, today
neglect
Built from
The verb is Middle English neglecten, derived from Latin neglēctus, perfect passive participle of neglegō (“to make light of, disregard, not to pick up”), itself from nec (“not”) + legō (“to pick up, select”). The noun is from neglēctus (“neglect”). 1460, the noun in 1588.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA