Needful
/ˈniːd.fəl/noun
Necessary or required; in some older usage, poor or needy.
Did you know?In older English, *needful* could mean not just “necessary,” but also “in need” or “poor,” showing how language once blurred survival, obligation, and desperation into one word.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*nauþiz
“Need, distress, compulsion”
Old English
OE
nēodful
“Necessary; full of need, urgent”
Middle English
ME
nedeful
“Necessary; needful, required”
Early Modern English
English
needful
“Necessary; also sometimes poor or needy”
Modern English
English
needful
“Necessary or required; occasionally old-fashioned for needy or impoverished”