Admitten

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Archaic past participle meaning having been allowed to enter a place or granted entry into a group
2. Formerly used form describing someone who was let in through a door, gate or into a membership
3. Old-fashioned past form indicating that a person has been received, granted access or accepted into something

Etymology: "Admitten" is an archaic past participle of "admit," the form the verb took in older English and that survives mainly in poetry and occasional old-fashioned prose. "Admit" itself comes from Latin "admittere," meaning "to send to or let go toward," built from "ad-" ("to") and "mittere" ("to send"). The original sense was physical: to let something or someone be sent in through a door or gate, and the idea of granting entry is still present in the modern verb. The "-en" ending on "admitten" is a participle marker inherited from older English grammar, the same ending seen in "written" or "spoken." Many verbs once formed their past participles this way, but most have since regularised to "admitted." Where "admitten" survives, it usually signals an older or elevated register, so it reads as formal or antique to modern ears.