because

English

Wikipedia

• Most common English words before 1923: between · face · tell · #175: because · few · whom · love

Alternative forms

• cos, cuz, coz, 'cos, 'cuz, 'coz, b/c

Etymology

From Middle English bi cause = bi (“by”) + cause, modelled on Old French par cause

Pronunciation

• (stressed)
  • (UK) IPA: /bɪˈkɒz/, SAMPA: /bI"kQz/
  • (US) IPA: /bi:ˈkɔz/, /bi:ˈkʌz/, SAMPA: /bI"kOz/, /bI"kVz/
• (unstressed)
  • IPA: /bɪkəz/, SAMPA: /bIk@z/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɒz

• Hyphenation: be‧cause

Adverb

because (not comparable)

1. (archaic) For the reason (that).
   • 1611, Authorized King James Version of Genesis 2:3:

     And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

2. On account (of), for sake (of).

   I ruined my life because of you!

3. Used alone to refuse to provide a full answer a question begun with "why", often taken as an ellipsis of "Because I said so".

Derived terms

• because of
• just because

Translations

on account

Arabic: بسبب (ar) (bisabab) Egyptian Arabic: عشان (ʕaʃān) Tunisian Arabic: فِي جُرّةْ (fī jurrit) Bulgarian: защото (bg), поради (bg) Chinese: Mandarin: 因為 (cmn), 因为 (cmn) (yīnwèi) Czech: kvůli (cs) Danish: fordi (da) Finnish: takia (fi)

German: weil (de), denn (de) Greek: εξαιτίας (el) Jamaican Creole: bikaaz, bikaazn Navajo: háálá Portuguese: porque (pt) Russian: из-за (ru) (iz-za) Spanish: porque (es) Swedish: på grund av (sv)

Conjunction

because

1. By or for the cause that; on this account that; for the reason that.

   I hid myself because I was afraid.

2. As known because; as inferred because; as determined because.

   It must be broken, because I pressed the button and nothing happened.

   He's not a nice guy, because he yells at people for no reason.

3. (obsolete) So that, in order that. [15th-17th c.]
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.3.2:

     Simon […] set the house on fire where he was born, because nobody should point at it.

Synonyms

• (for the reason that): therefore, since, for, for that, forthy, for sake, forwhy, as, inasmuch as, ∵ (mathematics symbol)

Translations

by or for the cause that; on this account that; for the reason that

Afrikaans: omdat (af); aangesien (af) Albanian: sepse (sq) American Sign Language: OpenB@Sfhead Y@FromSfhead Arabic: لأن (ar) (li'ánna) Egyptian Arabic: علشان (`alashaan), عشان (`ashaan) Moroccan Arabic: حيت (Hit), على حقّاش (`ela Heqqach) Tunisian Arabic: عْلَى خَاطِرْ (ʿlā ḫāṭir) Aramaic: Hebrew: מטל (meṬul) Syriac: ܡܛܠ (meṬul) Armenian: որովհետև (vorovhetev), քանզի (k'anzi), քանի որ (k'ani vor) Aromanian: cã Bengali: কারণ (bn) (karôn) Breton: peogwir, abalamour ma, en abeg ma, rak ma Bulgarian: защото (bg) (zaštoto), тъй като (bg) (tǎj kato), понеже (bg) (poneže) Burmese: လို့ (my) (lo.) Catalan: perquè (ca), ja que (ca), car (ca), puix (ca), puix que (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 因為 (cmn), 因为 (cmn) (yīnwèi), (more formal) 由於 (cmn), 由于 (cmn) (yóuyú) Czech: protože (cs) Danish: fordi (da) Dutch: omdat (nl), aangezien (nl), daar (nl) (formal) Egyptian: ḥr Esperanto: ĉar (eo) Estonian: kuna (et), seepärast (et) Ewe: elabena Finnish: koska (fi) French: parce que (fr), car (fr) Georgian: იმიტომ რომ (ka) (imitom rom), რადგანაც (ka) (radganac') German: weil (de), denn (de), da (de) Greek: διότι (el) (dióti), επειδή (el) (epeidí), γιατί (el) (yiatí) Haitian Creole: paske Hawaiian: no, no ka mea, ma, i, ma o, muli Hebrew: כי (he) (kí), בגלל (he) (biglál) Hindi: क्योंकि (hi) (kyoṅki) Hungarian: mert (hu) Icelandic: vegna þess (is), af því að (is) Ido: pro ke (io) Indonesian: karena (id), sebab (id) Interlingua: proque (ia) Irish: mar gheall ar (ga) Italian: perché (it) Japanese: なぜなら (ja) (názenara), だって (ja) (datte), (...) から (ja) (kara), ので (ja) (node)

Khmer: ព្រោះ (km) (bprūah), ពីព្រោះ (km) (bpi-bprūah) Korean: -이기 때문에 (-igi ttaemune) Kurdish: çimkî, ji ber ku, بۆ ئه‌وه‌, چونکه‌ Lao: please add this translation if you can Latin: quia (la), quod (la), quoniam (la), cum (la), propter (la) Latvian: tāpēc ka (lv) Lithuanian: nes (lt), todėl, kad (lt) Lojban: ri'a (jbo) Low German: ümdat (nds), dor (nds) Luxembourgish: well (lb) Malay: karena (ms), sebab (ms) Maori: please add this translation if you can Mongolian: ягаад гэвэл (mn) (yagaad gevel) Navajo: háálá Norwegian: fordi (no), ettersom (no), det kommer av (no) Old English: þæs (ang), þæs þe (ang), forþon þe (ang) Persian: زیرا (fa) (zirâ), چونکه (fa) (čunke), چون (fa) (čun), بدلیل (fa) Pitjantjatjara: -nguru, -languru, panya Polish: bo (pl), ponieważ (pl), dlatego że (pl), gdyż (pl) Portuguese: porque (pt), já que (pt) Romanian: pentru că, din cauză că, datorită Russian: потому что (ru) (potomú što), так как (ru) (ták kak), поскольку (ru) (poskól’ku), ведь (ru) (ved’), ибо (ru) (íbo), понеже (ru) Sanskrit: please add this translation if you can Scottish Gaelic: oir (gd) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: је̏р (sh) Roman: jȅr (sh) Slovak: pretože (sk) Slovene: ker (sl) Spanish: porque (es), ya que (es) Swedish: därför att (sv), eftersom (sv) Tagalog: (literally) dahil (tl) Thai: เพราะ (th) (práw) Tibetan: please add this translation if you can Turkish: çünkü (tr) Ukrainian: бо (uk) (bo), тому (uk) (tomu), тому що (uk) (tomu ščo), так як (uk) (tak jak), оскiльки (uk) (oskil’ky), адже (uk) (adže), внаслiдок (uk) (vnaslidok), унаслiдок (uk) (unaslidok) Urdu: کیونکہ (ur) (kyoṅki) Vietnamese: tại vì (vi), vì (vi), bởi vì (vi) Walloon: paski (wa), ca (wa) Welsh: achos (cy) West Frisian: meidat, omdat, mei't, om't

as known because; as inferred because; as determined because

Finnish: koska (fi), sillä (fi) Portuguese: porque (pt)

Scottish Gaelic: oir (gd)