Been Meaning
/ˈbɪn/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbpast participle of be.
verbremote past form of be.
Sentence Examples
This is always the way it has been.
What do you think I've been doing?
The baby had been abandoned by its mother.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She has ____ to Paris twice and loves the city's museums.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I have ____ waiting for the bus for over twenty minutes now.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Germanic *ga- Proto-West Germanic *ga- Old English ġe- Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *bʰuHyétider.? Proto-Germanic *beuną Proto-West Germanic *beun Old English bēon Old English ġebēon Middle English been English been From Middle English been (past participle), from Old English (ġe)bēon. By surface analysis, be + -en.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
""Bones", says he, "I tink dey's a-goin' to been a war ober de Alabamy question[…]"
— 1875, Minstrel Gags and End Men's Hand-book, New York: Dick and Fitzgerald, page 83; republished New York: Literature House, 1969:
"Yur a boald 'un to tell the missus theer to hur feeace as how ya wur 'tossicatit whan ya owt to been duing yur larful business."
— 1888, Mary Augusta Ward, “Book I”, in Robert Elsmere, London: Macmillan and Company, page 20:
"[…]But one time it use' to been so cold right first of the winter."
— 1966, DARE Tape SC10, quotee, “be v”, in Frederic G. Cassidy, Joan Houston Hall, editors, Dictionary of American Regional English, volume 1, Harvard University Press, published 1985, page 178:
"My love is fair, my love is gay, / As fresh as been the flowers in May;"
— 1584, George Peele, The Arraignment of Paris, I, ii:
"Theſe Beaſtes been of higheſt Regard and Price / To pleaſure Princes and to murder vice."
— 1606, N[athaniel] B[axter], Sir Philip Sydneys Ouránia, That Is, Endimions Song and Tragedie, Containing All Philosophie, London: […] Ed. Allde, for Edward White, […], →OCLC, signature G, recto:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She has ____ to Paris twice and loves the city's museums.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I have ____ waiting for the bus for over twenty minutes now.