born

¹

[ bawrn ]

adjective

1. brought forth by birth.
2. possessing from birth the quality, circumstances, or character stated:

   a born musician; a born fool.

3. native to the locale stated; immigrated to the present place from the locale stated:

   a German-born scientist; a Chicago-born New Yorker.

verb

1. a past participle of bear ¹.

Born

²

[ bawrn ]

noun

1. Max, 1882–1970, German physicist: Nobel Prize 1954.

born

¹

/ bɔːn /

verb

1. the past participle (in most passive uses) of bear 1
2. was not born yesterday
   is not gullible or foolish

adjective

1. possessing or appearing to have possessed certain qualities from birth

   a born musician

2. 1. being at birth in a particular social status or other condition as specified

      ignobly born

   2. ( in combination )

      lowborn

3. in all one's born days informal.
   so far in one's life

Born

²

/ bɔːn /

noun

1. BornMax18821970MBritishGermanSCIENCE: physicist Max . 1882–1970, British nuclear physicist, born in Germany, noted for his fundamental contribution to quantum mechanics: Nobel prize for physics 1954

Usage

Care should be taken not to use born where borne is intended: he had borne (not born ) his ordeal with great courage ; the following points should be borne in mind

Confusables Note

Since the latter part of the 18th century, a distinction has been made between born and borne as past participles of the verb bear1 . Borne is the past participle in all senses that do not refer to physical birth: The wheatfields have borne abundantly this year. Judges have always borne a burden of responsibility. Borne is also the participle when the sense is “to bring forth (young)” and the focus is on the mother rather than on the child. In such cases, borne is preceded by a form of have or followed by by: Anna had borne a son the previous year. Two children borne by her earlier were already grown. When the focus is on the offspring or on something brought forth as if by birth, born is the standard spelling, and it occurs only in passive constructions: My friend was born in Ohio. No children have been born at the South Pole. A strange desire was born of the tragic experience. Born is also an adjective meaning “by birth,” “innate,” or “native”: born free; a born troublemaker; Mexican-born.

Other Words From

• pre·born adjective
• self-born adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of born¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English boren (past participle of beran “to give birth”), equivalent to bor- past participle stem + -en past participle suffix; bear ¹, -en ³

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. born yesterday, naive; inexperienced:

   You can't fool me with that old trick—I wasn't born yesterday.

More idioms and phrases containing born

• in all one's born days
• not born yesterday
• to the manner born

Example Sentences

As Born had shown, you could merely predict the probabilities for the various possible outcomes, using calculations informed by the wave function that Schrödinger had introduced.

From Science News

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Adele is a big reason why songs like Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License,” Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved” and A Star is Born’s “Shallow” have clung to the charts for months on end.

From Time

As I observed in my book, it’s awfully hard to resist the charms of someone who can make you laugh, and families abound with stories of last-borns who are the clowns of the brood.

From Time

Second and later borns are much more invested in upending the system.

From Time

The influential al Qaeda propagandist, who was born in New Mexico, died in a U.S. drone strike later that year.

From The Daily Beast

Cosby conspiracy theorists share a perspective born of a long, pained history of American racism.

From The Daily Beast

A few months later, after their children were born, we visited the men and women again.

From The Daily Beast

Yung Lean was born Jonatan Leandoer Håstad in Belarus, before moving to Sweden at the age of 3.

From The Daily Beast

Little did I know that Lee had actually been born into a wealthy family.

From The Daily Beast

To reproduce the impulse born of the thought—this is the aim of a psychological method.

From Project Gutenberg

Elyon is the name of an ancient Phœnician god, slain by his son El, no doubt the “first-born of death” in Job xviii.

From Project Gutenberg

In the spring of 1868 he was taken by his mother for a visit to England, and there, in the same year, his sister was born.

From Project Gutenberg

This widening grasp of languages is or was within the capacity of nearly everyone born into the world—given the facilities.

From Project Gutenberg

That embrace, that grin and that heart-born exclamation marked the entrance of the Pulsifer family into my life.

From Project Gutenberg