Born Meaning
/bɔːn/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbpast participle of bear; given birth to.
verbpast participle of bear in other senses.
Sentence Examples
He was born on July 28th, 1888.
Have you visited the town where your father was born?
She was born in the fifties.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She was ____ in a small village in the mountains during a snowstorm.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He was ____ in a small village nestled in the heart of the mountains.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"In some monasteries the severity of the clausure is hard to be born."
— 1784, Thomas Sheridan, Life of Dr. Swift, Section I:
"If I had not persuaded Harriet into liking the man, I could have born any thing."
— 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 286:
"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."
— 1701 January (indicated as 1700), [Daniel Defoe], “Part II”, in The True-Born Englishman. A Satyr, [London: s.n.], →OCLC, page 61:
"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."
— 1942, Storm Jameson, Then we shall hear singing: a fantasy in C major:
"“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.""
— 1965 October 1, Frank Herbert, “Book I: Dune”, in Dune, Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Book Company; [Toronto], Ont.: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 108:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She was ____ in a small village in the mountains during a snowstorm.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He was ____ in a small village nestled in the heart of the mountains.