Being

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈbiːɪŋ/

Definitions

1. A living creature or entity that exists, or the state of existing and having life or consciousness
2. An entity that possesses life or awareness, as well as the condition or nature of existence itself
3. A living individual or a conscious entity, along with the quality or state of having existence

Etymology: The noun "being" looks like it should be simply the present participle of "be," and in a sense it is: English formed it by adding the "-ing" suffix to "be," the verb meaning to exist. What makes it striking is how quickly that ordinary grammatical building block turned into a word for existence itself. Around 1250 to 1300, Middle English speakers began using the participle as a noun, so that "being" could name a thing that exists, and the sense of a living creature followed from there. The philosophical sense is older in the English record than many readers might expect, and it grew naturally from the same move. Once "being" could stand for something that exists, it was a short step to using it for existence as a whole, the bare fact of there being anything at all. That abstract sense is the one philosophers later adopted for their own discussions of what it means to exist.

Synonyms: existence, presence, entity, life, individual

Antonyms: nonexistence, absence, nothingness, void, deceased