been

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

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English been (past participle), from Old English (ġe)bēon; equivalent to be +‎ -en.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɪn/
  • Homophone: bin
  • Rhymes: -ɪn
• (General American, particularly common in the Great Lakes, Midwest) IPA^(key): /bɛn/
  • Homophone: Ben
  • Rhymes: -ɛn
• (Received Pronunciation, US dialectal) IPA^(key): /biːn/
  • Homophone: bean
  • Rhymes: -iːn

Verb

been

1. past participle of be.

2. (Southern US or African-American Vernacular) remote past form of be.
   • 2013, DayQuan Miller, Back Blocks, StealthMode Entertainment, page 147:

     She was disloyal, Casper was disloyal, so them muthafuckas gotta go. Like you said[,] we been knew we was going to have to kill Frost, so let's do it and Light too.” Star said. “Say no more. I'ma handle Kisha myself.” Max said walking to the door.

Further reading

• Alexander Pollatsek, Rebecca Treiman (2015) The Oxford Handbook of Reading, Oxford Library of Psychology, →ISBN, page 433: “For example, the remote past “been” is used as part of the verb to express something that took place in the distant past: 'he been reading story books.'”
• Mary Kohn, Walt Wolfram, Charlie Farrington, Jennifer Renn, Janneke Van Hofwegen (2020) African American Language: Language development from Infancy to Adulthood, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 231: “Remote past 'been' ([RPB], coded on word) = been is used to mark action in the remote past; in such cases the word been is always stressed (e.g., he been[RPB] had that job; I been[RPB] bought her clothes).”

Etymology 2

Either from Middle English been (“to be”, infinitive) (from Old English bēon), or from a dialectal use of the preceding past tense form as an infinitive form (compare dialectal use of (I)'s, (I) is in the first person, (he) am in the third person, etc).

Verb

been

1. (Southern US or African-American Vernacular, rare) Synonym of be (infinitival sense).

Etymology 3

From Middle English been (plural indicative form); equivalent to be +‎ -en.

Verb

been

1. (obsolete) plural simple present of be.

Etymology 4

From Middle English been, bene, ben, beon, from Old English bēon (“bees”), equivalent to bee +‎ -en (plural ending).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biːn/

Noun

been

1. (UK dialectal) plural of bee

References

Vaux, Bert and Scott Golder. 2003. The Harvard Dialect Survey: been. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Linguistics Department.

Anagrams

• Bene, Eben, NEbE, bene, eben, neeb

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch been, from Middle Dutch bêen, from Old Dutch bēn, from Proto-Germanic *bainą.

Pronunciation

Noun

been (plural bene or beendere, diminutive beentjie)

1. leg of a human or humanoid
2. bone
3. (in the diminutive) Synonym of ossikel (“ossicle”)

Usage notes

• The plural beendere is used alternatively in the sense “bone”, especially collectively.

Synonyms

• poot (leg, of an animal)
• boud (leg, a cut of meat)

Derived terms

• penisbeen

Basque

Noun

been

1. genitive plural of be

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beːn/
• Hyphenation: been
• Rhymes: -eːn

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch bêen, from Old Dutch bēn, from Proto-West Germanic *bain, from Proto-Germanic *bainą.

Noun

been n (plural benen, diminutive beentje n)

1. leg, limb of a person, horse (other animals' would have poten) and certain objects (again many have poten)

   De benen van een passer. ― The legs of a pair of compasses.

2. (mathematics) side, leg

   De benen van een hoek. ― The sides of an angle.

3. the upper part of a sock, above the ankle

Usage notes

• The contemporary plural benen is derived from an analogy to other nouns with regular plurals. Originally, been was left unchanged in the plural; such use is preserved only in set phrases like op de been (“upright, standing, awake”).

Noun

been n (plural beenderen or benen or (obsolete) beenders, diminutive beentje n)

1. bone, constituent part of a skeleton

   Synonyms: bot, knook, knekel

2. (uncountable) bone, the chalky material bones are made of

   Synonym: bot

Derived terms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: been
• Berbice Creole Dutch: been
• Jersey Dutch: beîn
• Negerhollands: been
• → Lokono: bèna

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

been

1. inflection of benen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Anagrams

• bene

Dutch Low Saxon

Etymology

From Low German Been, from Middle Low German bên, from Old Saxon bēn.

Noun

been

1. leg

See also

• German Low German: Been

Finnish

Noun

been

1. genitive/accusative singular of bee

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch bēn, from Proto-West Germanic *bain, from Proto-Germanic *bainą.

Noun

bêen n

1. leg
2. foot
3. bone

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

• bein (Limburgish)

Descendants

• Dutch: been
  • Afrikaans: been
  • Berbice Creole Dutch: been
  • Jersey Dutch: beîn
  • Negerhollands: been
  • → Lokono: bèna
• Limburgish: bein

Further reading

• “been”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “been”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English

Etymology 1

From a conflation of Old English bēon and wesan, from Proto-West Germanic *beun and *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *beuną and *wesaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewHeti (see Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH-) and a conflation of *h₂wéseti and *h₁ésti.

Alternative forms

• be, bean, ben, beon, boen
• (from *h₁ésti, rare) seen, sen

Pronunciation

• (Early Middle English) IPA^(key): /bøːn/
• IPA^(key): /beːn/

Verb

been (third-person singular simple present is, present participle beynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative was, past participle been)

1. (intransitive) To be; to exist or have existence:
   1. (intransitive) To occur; to come to be.
   2. (with adjective or adverb) To be with a certain quality or in a certain situation.
   3. (transitive) To be to or for someone or something.
2. (copulative) To be something or someone.
   1. (with genitive) To be someone's; to be in someone's possession.
   2. (auxiliary) Forms the continuous present and perfect.
   3. (auxiliary) Forms the perfect tense with some intransitive verbs.
3. (auxiliary) Forms various passive constructions.

Usage notes

• ben may be used elliptically if the subject, complement, or predicate is implicit.
• The perfect tense is usually formed with haven; see that entry for more.

Conjugation

Descendants

• English: be; been (dialectal)
• Scots: be
• Yola: ba, bee, be, b'

References

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

Etymology 2

From Old French and Medieval Latin, from Arabic بَان (bān, “ben tree”).

Noun

been

1. ben (moringa tree)

Descendants

• English: ben

References

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

Etymology 3

From Old English bēon, nominative plural form of bēo, from Proto-Germanic *bijōniz, nominative plural form of *bijǭ. Equivalent to bee +‎ -en (plural suffix).

Noun

been

1. plural of bee (“bee”)

Etymology 4

From Old English ġebēon, past participle of bēon (“to be”); equivalent to y- +‎ be +‎ -en (participial suffix).

Alternative forms

• ybeen, ybe

Verb

been

2. past participle of been (“to be”)

Descendants

• English: been
• Scots: been

Etymology 5

From (with the -þ replaced with an -n leveled in from the past and subjunctive) Old English bēoþ, present plural of bēon (“to be”), from Proto-Germanic *biunþi, third-person present plural of *beuną (“to be, become”).

Alternative forms

• be

Verb

been

1. plural present indicative of been (“to be”)

Usage notes

The usual plural form of been is aren in the North, been in the Midlands, and beth in the South; sind also existed, especially early on, but was not the predominant form in any area.

Descendants

• English: been (obsolete as the plural)

Etymology 6

From Old English bēon, present subjunctive plural of bēon (“to be”), from Proto-Germanic *biwīn, third-person present subjunctive plural of *beuną (“to be, become”).

Verb

been

1. plural present subjunctive of been (“to be”)

Descendants

• English: be
• Scots: be

Etymology 7

Noun

been (plural beenes or beenen)

1. Alternative form of bene (“bean”)

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English ybeen, from Old English ġebēon, past participle of bēon (“to be”).

Verb

been

1. past participle of be

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English bee, from Old English bēo, from Proto-Germanic *bijō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biːn/
• Homophones: bane, bin

Noun

been

1. bees

Derived terms

• bumble-bee
• tyel-been

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 25