haven

English Online Dictionary. What means haven‎? What does haven mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English haven, havene, from Old English hæfen (“haven; harbour; port”), from Proto-West Germanic *habanu, from Proto-Germanic *habnō, *habanō (compare Dutch haven, German Hafen, Norwegian/Danish havn, Swedish hamn), from Proto-Germanic *habą (“sea”) (compare Old English hæf, Middle Low German haf, Old Norse haf (“sea”), German Haff (“bay or lagoon behind a spit”), perhaps, in the sense of "heaving sea", etymologically identical with Old Norse haf (“heaving, lifting, uplift, elevation”), derived from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to lift, heave”)), or from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pnós (compare Old Irish cúan (“harbor, recess, haven”)). Doublet of abra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈheɪvən/
• Rhymes: -eɪvən

Noun

haven (plural havens)

1. (slightly dated) A harbour or anchorage protected from the sea.
2. (by extension) A place of safety.

   Synonyms: refuge, sanctuary, zoar
3. (by extension) A peaceful place.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

haven (third-person singular simple present havens, present participle havening, simple past and past participle havened)

1. To put into, or provide with a haven.

Translations

Anagrams

• heav'n, nevah

Danish

Noun

haven c

1. definite singular of have

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɦaːvə(n)/
• Hyphenation: ha‧ven
• Rhymes: -aːvən

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch havene, from Old Dutch *havana, from Proto-West Germanic *habanu, from Proto-Germanic *habnō, *habanō.

Noun

haven f (plural havens, diminutive haventje n)

1. harbour

   De schepen liggen veilig in de haven. ― The ships are safe in the harbour.

   We namen een wandeling bij het kleine haventje na het diner. ― We took a walk by the small harbour after dinner.

2. port

   Rotterdam heeft een van de grootste havens ter wereld. ― Rotterdam has one of the largest ports in the world.

Derived terms

- port types

- toponyms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: hawe
• → Papiamentu: haf, haaf

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

haven

1. plural of have.

Finnish

Alternative forms

• hapene (dialectal)

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *habën, possibly a Baltic loan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑʋen/, [ˈhɑ̝ʋe̞n]
• Rhymes: -ɑʋen
• Syllabification^(key): ha‧ven

Noun

haven (dialectal)

1. (single) hair

   Synonyms: hapsi, hius

Declension

Anagrams

• ahven

Middle English

Alternative forms

• have, haav, haf, hafe, haben, habben, heven, hawe
• (contracted) han, haan, ha

Etymology

From Old English habban, from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaːvən/, /ˈhavən/, /ˈhabən/
• (contracted) IPA^(key): /haːn/

Verb

haven

2. to own (to have ownership of):
   1. to possess (an abstraction; a quality)
   2. to include (as a part, ingredient, or feature).
   3. to hold; to have at disposal
3. to get, acquire, or obtain:
   1. to take (in); to be given
   2. to have (a child); to give birth
4. to do; to perform (an action):
   1. (with preposition) to take (away)
   2. to have (done); to cause to (do, be)
   3. to be obliged to do; to be scheduled to do.
5. (auxillary) Denotes completion; forms the perfect tense.
6. to keep; to maintain (in a condition)
7. to have (in a certain relationship)
8. to consider; to look upon
9. to experience; to undergo

Usage notes

• As in Modern English, haven may be used elliptically in auxiliary constructions if the main verb is implicit.
• The perfect progressive construction (modern have been + present) is known in Middle English, though rare and late.
• Some intransitive verbs may form the perfect with ben rather than haven.

Conjugation

Contraction

• ichave
• nad (“had not”)

Descendants

• English: have (-'ve, -a)
• Scots: hae, ha, hiv, have, hawe (-a)
• Yola: ha, have

References

• “hā̆ven, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Middle High German

Etymology

From Old High German hafan m (“pot”).

Noun

haven

1. pot

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

haven

1. definite plural of hav

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian *hafen, *haven, from Proto-West Germanic *habanu, from Proto-Germanic *habnō.

Noun

haven c (plural havens, diminutive haventsje)

1. harbour
2. haven, refuge

Derived terms

• havenhaad

Further reading

• “haven (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011