Built

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈbɪlt/

Definitions

1. Formed or assembled by putting parts or materials together ; possessing a particular body shape or muscular structure
2. Created by combining components or materials into a whole ; described as having a specific physical build or frame
3. Erected or put in place through construction or manufacture ; characterized by a certain bodily form or robustness

Etymology: "Built" is the past tense and past participle of "build", and the verb's most surprising link is to a word for a house. Old English "botl" meant "building" or "dwelling," and the verb "bytlan" was formed from the same root, so to build originally meant something close to providing a dwelling. The root traces back to a Proto-Indo-European base meaning "to become, grow, thrive, or dwell," which suggests that building was once tied to the idea of a settled, living place. The English word "bottle" shares this ancestry: a bottle and a building are distant cousins. The verb's history also includes a false friend. English "build" looks like German "bilden," meaning "to form" or "to shape," and the two were long assumed to be related, but they are not true cognates. English "build" developed from the Old English "byldan" and "bytlan," while "bilden" descends from a different source, so the resemblance is coincidental.

Synonyms: constructed, created, formed

Antonyms: destroyed