cared

Cared is the past tense and past participle of the English verb care. It is used to express concern for someone or something, or to indicate that someone looked after another person, a task, or a situation.

As a transitive verb, care can take an object. For example, "She cared for the child" means she looked after the child. In the passive voice, the same idea is expressed as "The child was cared for by the nurse." The past tense and past participle are both "cared," as in "They cared deeply for the project" or "They have cared for many patients."

The phrase care is also used in combinations such as "care about" and "care for." "Care about" expresses concern or interest, as in "He cares about his community." "Care for" can mean to look after or to like; for instance, "I care for her" (affection) or "I don’t care for spicy food" (dislike). The idiom "couldn't care less" signals total indifference.

Cared is a regular verb form and appears in many tenses with auxiliary verbs, such as "has cared," "had cared," or "will care." It also appears in compound adjectives like "well cared-for," describing something that has been properly looked after.

Etymology is generally traced to the Germanic family of languages, with the verb appearing in Old English and evolving into the modern forms used today. In everyday English, cared functions across formal and informal contexts to convey involvement, responsibility, or emotional tone.