Have Meaning

/ˈhæv/
A1

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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verbTo possess, own.

verbTo hold, as something at someone's disposal.

I have to go to sleep.
I don't know if I have the time.
We have to discover his plans and act accordingly.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
After winning the lottery, a person can ____ enough money to buy a house.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I ____ a feeling that something wonderful is going to happen to us this afternoon.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kap-der. Proto-Germanic *habjaną Proto-West Germanic *habbjan Old English habban Middle English haven English have From Middle English haven, from Old English habban (“to have”), from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to have”), durative of *habjaną (“to lift, take up”), from Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti, an imperfective formation to the root *kap- (“to take, seize, catch”). Related to heave. Since there is no common Indo-European root for a transitive possessive verb have (notice that Latin habeō is not etymologically related to English have), Proto-Indo-European probably lacked the have structure. Instead, the third person forms of be were used, with the possessor in dative case, compare Latin mihi est / sunt, literally to me is / are. Cognates Cognate with Scots hae (“to have”), North Frisian haa, heewe (“to have”), Saterland Frisian häbe, hääbe (“to have”), West Frisian hawwe (“to have”), Afrikaans hê (“to have”), Alemannic German haa, heen, hoh, hä, häbä, hè (“to have”), Bavarian hobm, hobn, hoom, håbn (“to have”), Cimbrian haban, hen, håm (“to have”), Dutch and Low German hebben (“to have”), German haben (“to have”), Limburgish haane, höbbe (“to have”), Luxembourgish hunn (“to have”), Mòcheno hom (“to have”), Vilamovian hon (“to have”), Yiddish האָבן (hobn, “to have”), Danish have (“to have”), Elfdalian åvå (“to have”), Faroese hava (“to have”), Icelandic hafa (“to have”), Norwegian Bokmål ha (“to have”), Norwegian Nynorsk ha, hava, have, hå (“to have”), Swedish ha, hafva, hava (“to have”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (haban, “to have”), Albanian kap (“to grab, catch, grip”), Latin capiō (“take”, verb), Russian хапать (xapatʹ, “to seize”).

"Out there is a fortune waiting to be had / You think I'll let it go you're mad / You've got another thing comin'" — 1982, Rob Halford, K. K. Downing, Glenn Tipton, “You've Got Another Thing Comin'”, in Screaming for Vengeance, performed by Judas Priest, side 2, track 2:
"Tame midweek stress the fun way. Have each other before dinner to reconnect after a long day." — 2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 134:
"His English is still in its beginning stages, like my Creole, but he was able to translate some Creole songs that he's written into English—not the best English, but English nonetheless. He had me correct the translations. That kind of thing is very interesting to me. When I was learning Spanish, I would often take my favorite songs and try to translate them." — 2002, Matt Cyr, Something to Teach Me: Journal of an American in the Mountains of Haiti, Educa Vision, Inc., →ISBN, page 25:
"Anton Rogan, 8, was one of the runners-up in the Tick Tock Box short story competition, not Anton Rogers as we had it." — 2011 May 3, “Corrections and clarifications”, in The Guardian:
"When we did a rerecorded version for Top of the Pops, the Musicians' Union bloke said, "If I think you're making strings sounds out of a synthesiser, I'm going to have you. Video Killed the Radio Star is putting musicians out of business."" — 2018 October 30, Dave Simpson, “The Buggles: how we made Video Killed the Radio Star”, in The Guardian, Guardian News & Media, retrieved 20 Mar 2025:

Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words

CEFR Practice Quiz
After winning the lottery, a person can ____ enough money to buy a house.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I ____ a feeling that something wonderful is going to happen to us this afternoon.

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