Borne

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /bɔːn/

Definitions

1. Transported by a person or entity
2. Supported or moved from one place to another by a force or agent ; generated or brought about as a result of an action or condition
3. Held up or transported through an external influence ; originated or developed due to specific factors or causes

Etymology: "Borne" is the past participle of "bear" in its sense of carrying, and it is also the source of the modern verb's sense "carried by something." Its ancestor in Old English was "boren," the past participle of "beran," meaning "to carry." That Old English verb descends from a Proto-Indo-European root that also gave English "bear" in all its other senses, so "borne" and "bear" are the same word wearing different grammatical clothes. The word's spelling reflects the long journey it took to settle down. Middle English wrote it "boren" or "iborne," and the modern spelling with the final "e" and the vowel "o" emerged only later, so the written form has drifted further from its Old English origin than its pronunciation has. In everyday English the participle is now used most often in fixed phrases like "borne out" or "borne in mind," where the older sense of carrying survives in a more abstract form.

Synonyms: carried, supported