If you're in need of an explanation of the origins of "succor," we can help. Middle English speakers adapted "socour," the predecessor of "succor," from the Anglo-French sucors, which essentially had the same meaning as our modern word. "Sucors," in turn, derives from the Medieval Latin succursus, itself a derivative of the Latin verb succurrere, meaning "to run to the rescue or "to bring aid." That Latin verb was a composite of the prefix sub- (meaning "from below") and the verb "currere" (meaning "to run"). "Succor" has been saving the day in English (as both a noun and a verb) since at least the 13th century.
Example Sentences
Noun We see it as our duty to give succor to those in need.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
But Malone spends a lot more of the album being mad at the man in the mirror, or wanting to offer him the succor of a nice buzz that isn’t easily achieved. Chris Willman, Variety, 5 June 2022 Reba, though, was able to find some small succor during the lockdown that left her quarantining with her grieving family in Oklahoma. Melissa Locker, Southern Living, 30 Dec. 2020 Sports have often been a comfort in troubling times, most notably two decades ago, when baseball provided succor for a country reeling from the extremist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Ken Belson, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2020 So far, no major bond investor has publicly said emerging markets should be granted temporary, let alone permanent, succor on their foreign commercial borrowings. Paul Wallace, Bloomberg.com, 13 Apr. 2020 Apple, at least, seems to gain succor and creative inspiration from pining for only the most nourishing kind of connection. Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 17 Apr. 2020 In the afternoon, Cuomo gave stressed New Yorkers succor by way of slideshows, monitoring the state’s progress in flattening the coronavirus curve. Melissa Gira Grant, The New Republic, 7 Apr. 2020 Will live-streams of Coldplay give anything near the same succor? Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 19 Mar. 2020 That power would be wasted, Professor Rogoff said, if the United States did not use its resources both to aid other nations and provide succor to the impoverished people within its own borders. Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2020
Verb
Together, the two hold the key to some revolutionary technological breakthrough that might succor the ailing globe.Washington Post, 6 Apr. 2021 If the bedsit seemed fashioned for a Barbara Pym character to nurse her hot-plate supper, and the garret to succor a starving painter or poet, the New York studio apartment, from its beginnings, promised grander things. Penelope Green, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2020 Their research may even lead to innovations in antimicrobial properties that can succor in the imminent fearsome post-antibiotic era. Prayan Pokharel, Smithsonian, 17 Aug. 2017 That philosophy has succored me through breakups, deaths and career reversals. Leonard Pitts Jr, The Mercury News, 19 Jan. 2017 See More
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English socour, sucurs (taken as plural), from Anglo-French sucur, sucors, from Medieval Latin succursus, from Latin succurrere to run to the rescue, bring aid, from sub- + currere to run — more at car