being

English

Etymology

Originated 1250–1300 from Middle English being; see be + -ing.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbiːɪŋ/, SAMPA: /"bi:IN/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -iːɪŋ
• Hyphenation: be‧ing

Verb

being

1. Present participle of be.

Noun

being (plural beings)

1. A living creature.
2. The state or fact of existence, consciousness, or life, or something in such a state.
3. (philosophy) That which has actuality (materially or in concept).
4. (philosophy) One's basic nature, or the qualities thereof; essence or personality.

Derived terms

• beingdom
• beingful
• beinghood
• beingless
• beingness
• (noun) human being

Translations

n. living being

Arabic: كائِن، مَخْلوق Armenian: էակ (hy) (ēak) Bulgarian: същество (bg) n. Catalan: ésser (ca) m. Chinese (Traditional): 生物 Czech: bytost (cs) f. Danish: væsen (da) Dutch: wezen (nl) n. Esperanto: estaĵo (eo), estulo (eo) Estonian: olend Finnish: olento (fi) French: créature (fr) f., être (fr) m. German: Wesen (de) n. Greek: πλάσμα (el) n. (plásma) Hebrew: בריה (he),יצור (he) Hungarian: lény (hu) Icelandic: vera (is) Indonesian: makhluk

Italian: essere (it) m., creatura (it) Japanese: 生き物 (ja) Khmer: ភាវៈរស់ (km) (phea veak ros) Korean: 생명체 Latin: creatura (la) f., ens (la) n., animatum (la) n., animate (la) n., res (la) f., natura (la) f. Latvian: būtne; radījums Lithuanian: būtybė Norwegian: vesen (no) Polish: stwór (pl) m., istota (pl) f. Portuguese: ser (pt) m., criatura (pt) f. Romanian: ființă (ro), creatură (ro), făptură (ro) Russian: (живое) существо (ru) (suš'estvó) n. Slovak: bytosť, tvor Slovene: bitje (sl) Spanish: ser (es) m. Swedish: varelse (sv) c., väsen (sv) Turkish: yaratık (tr)

n. existence

Arabic: وُجود Armenian: գոյություն (hy) (goyut’yun) Bulgarian: съществуване (bg) n., битие (bg) n. Catalan: ésser (ca) m. Chinese (Traditional): 存在 Czech: existence (cs), život (cs) Danish: opstå (da) Dutch: bestaan (nl) n. Esperanto: esto (eo) Estonian: olemasolu Finnish: olemassaolo (fi) French: existence (fr) German: das (Da-)Sein Greek: ύπαρξη (el) f. (ýparxi) Hebrew: ישות (he) (yeshut), Hungarian: lét(ezés) (hu) Icelandic: tilvera (is) Indonesian: keberadaan, ada

Italian: esistenza (it) Japanese: 存在 (ja) Korean: 존재 (ko) Latin: vita (la) f., ortus (la) m., caput (la) n., salus (la), salus (la) f., natura (la) f., vis (la) f., essentia (la) f. Latvian: eksistence; esamība Lithuanian: egzistavimas Norwegian: tilværelse (no), det å være (no), * bli til (no) Polish: istnienie (pl) Portuguese: existência (pt) f. Romanian: existență, naștere, ființă Russian: существование (ru) (suš'estvovánije) n. Slovak: vznik (sk) Slovene: bivanje, obstajanje Spanish: existencia (es) Swedish: tillvaro, existens (sv) Turkish: varlık (tr) !Xóõ: !náã

Conjunction

being

1. (obsolete) Given that; since.
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York Review Books 2001, p. 280:

     ’Tis a hard matter therefore to confine them, being they are so various and many [...].

Derived terms

• being that

References

• “being” in The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
• “being” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• "being" in the Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary (Beta Version), K Dictionaries limited, 2000-2006.
• "being" in WordNet 3.0, Princeton University, 2006.

See also

am are is art be been

beest was wast were wert

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: make · def · might · #113: being · day · through · himself

Anagrams

• begin
• binge