born
See also: Born, börn, and børn
English
Pronunciation
- (with the horse-hoarse merger)
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /bɔːn/
- (General American) IPA(key): /boɹn/, [bo̞ɹn]
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)n
- Homophones: borne (with the horse-hoarse merger), bourn (with the horse-hoarse merger), bourne (with the horse-hoarse merger), Bourne (with the horse-hoarse merger), bawn (in non-rhotic accents)
- (without the horse–hoarse merger)
- (rhotic) IPA(key): /bɔːɹn/
- (non-rhotic) IPA(key): /bɔːn/
Etymology 1
From Middle English born, boren, borne, iborne, from Old English boren, ġeboren, from Proto-West Germanic *boran, *gaboran, from Proto-Germanic *buranaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *beraną (“to bear, carry”), equivalent to bear + -en. Cognate with Saterland Frisian gebooren (“born”), West Frisian berne (“born”), Dutch geboren (“born”), German geboren (“born”), Swedish boren (“born”).
Verb
born
- past participle of bear; given birth to.
- Although not born in the country, she qualifies for nationality through her grandparents.
- (obsolete) past participle of bear in other senses.
- 1784, Thomas Sheridan, Life of Dr. Swift, Section I
- In some monasteries the severity of the clausure is hard to be born.
- 1784, Thomas Sheridan, Life of Dr. Swift, Section I
Translations
be born — see be born
Adjective
born (not comparable)
- Having from birth (or as if from birth) a certain quality or character; innate; inherited.
- 1701 January (indicated as 1700), [Daniel Defoe], “Part II”, in The True-Born Englishman. A Satyr, [London: s.n.], OCLC 606597370, page 61:
- I'll make it out, deny it he that can, / His Worship is a True-born Engliſhman, / In all the Latitude that Empty Word / By Modern Acceptation's understood.
- 1942, Storm Jameson, Then we shall hear singing: a fantasy in C major:
- I ought really to have called him my sergeant. He's a born sergeant. That's as much as to say he's a born scoundrel.
- 1965, Herbert, Frank, Dune (Science Fiction), New York: Ace Books, OCLC 15383013, page 118:
- “Your desert boots are fitted slip-fashion at the ankles. Who told you to do that?”
"It . . . seemed the right way."
"That it most certainly is."
And Kynes rubbed his cheek, thinking of the legend: "He shall know your ways as though born to them."
-
Derived terms
- be born yesterday
- born again
- born-again
- born-again virgin
- born and bred
- born at night but not last night
- born digital
- born-free
- born in a barn
- born in the purple
- born killer
- born leader
- born loser
- born on the 4th of July
- born on the Fourth of July
- born tired
- born to the purple
- born with a silver spoon in one's mouth
- born yesterday
- dead-born
- first-born
- firstborn
- foreign-born
- freeborn
- from me born
- full-born
- hell-born
- high-born
- highborn
- in all one's born days
- in one's born days
- I was born in ...
- lastborn
- last-born
- low-born
- middleborn
- naked as the day one was born
- native-born
- new-born
- newborn
- no one is born a master
- not know one is born
- one's father was born before one
- sky-born
- still-born
- stillborn
- there's a sucker born every minute
- there's one born every minute
- to the manner born
- to the manor born
- true-born
- trueborn
- twice-born
- twin-born
- well-born
- were you born in a tent
- woman-born-woman
- womyn-born-womyn
Translations
given birth to
|
See also
- borne
- né, née
Etymology 2
Dialectal variant of burn.
Noun
born (plural borns)
- (Tyneside) Alternative spelling of burn (a stream)
Verb
born (third-person singular simple present borns, present participle bornin, simple past and past participle bornt)
- (Tyneside) Alternative spelling of burn (with fire etc.)
Further reading
- Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, →ISBN
- Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin,
Anagrams
- Brno, Norb
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Noun
born f (plural bornen)
- (dialectal) Obsolete form of bron.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Alternative forms
- barn
Noun
born n
- indefinite plural of barn