got

See also: Got, GoT, gót, gôt, göt, Göt, got., and -got-

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɒt/
• IPA^(key): /ɡɑt/
• IPA^(key): /ɡʌt/, /ɡɒt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒt

Verb

got

1. simple past of get

   We got the last bus home.

2. (British, Australia, New Zealand) past participle of get

   By that time we'd got very cold.

   I've got two children.

   How many children have you got?

3. Expressing obligation.

   I can't go out tonight, I've got to study for my exams.

4. (Southern US, with to) must; have (to).

   I got to go study.

   • 1971, Carol King and Gerry Goffin, “Smackwater Jack”, Tapestry, Ode Records

     We got to ride to clean up the streets / For our wives and our daughters!

5. (Southern US, nonstandard) have

   They got a new car.

   He got a lot of nerve.

6. (Southern US, African-American Vernacular, euphemistic, slang) to be murdered

   He got got.

Usage notes

• (past participle of get): The second sentence literally means "At some time in the past I got (obtained) two children", but in "have got" constructions like this, where "got" is used in the sense of "obtained", the sense of obtaining is lost, becoming merely one of possessing, and the sentence is in effect just a more colloquial way of saying "I have two children". Similarly, the third sentence is just a more colloquial way of saying "How many children do you have?"
• (past participle of get): The American and archaic British usage of the verb conjugates as get-got-gotten or as get-got-got depending on the meaning (see Usage Notes on "get" for details), whereas the modern British usage of the verb has mostly lost this distinction and conjugates as get-got-got in most cases.
• (expressing obligation): "Got" is a filler word here with no obvious grammatical or semantic function. "I have to study for my exams" has the same meaning. It is often stressed in speech: "You've just got to see this."
• (have): In nonstandard speech the verb may be reinterpreted as a regular present tense, so that the form gots appears in the third-person singular present, e.g. She gots a red bike.

Synonyms

• (must, have (to)): gotta (informal)

Anagrams

• GTO, OTG, TGO, tog

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Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian) [ˈɡɔt]

Etymology 1

From Vulgar Latin *gottus, from Latin guttus.

Noun

got m (plural gots)

1. glass (drinking glass)

Synonyms

• tassó
• vas

Etymology 2

From Latin Gothus.

Noun

got m (plural gots, feminine goda)

1. Goth

Derived terms

• gòtic (“Gothic”)

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Finnish

Noun

got

1. nominative plural of go

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German Low German

Adjective

got (comparative bȩter or bäter)

1. Alternative spelling of goot

See also

• god

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Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch got, from Proto-Germanic *gudą.

Noun

got m

1. god
2. the Christian God

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

• god

Descendants

• Dutch: god, God
• Limburgish: gód, Gód

Further reading

• “got”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “god”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page god

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Middle English

Noun

got

1. Alternative form of gutte

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Middle Low German

Pronunciation 1

• Stem vowel: ô¹
  • IPA^(key): /ɣoːt/

Etymology

From Old Saxon gōd, from Proto-Germanic *gōdaz.

Adjective

gôt (comparative bēter, superlative best)

1. good

Declension

Declension of got

	nominative	accusative	dative	genitive
	Strong declension
Masculine	gôt	gôden	gôdem(e) (gôdennote)	gôdes
Neuter		gôt
Feminine		gôde	gôder(e)
Plural	gôde		gôden	gôder(e)
	Weak declension
Masculine	gôde	gôden	gôden
Neuter		gôde
Feminine		gôden
Plural	gôden
The longer forms become rarer in the course of the period.

Descendants

• Low German: god

Pronunciation 2

• IPA^(key): /ɣɔt/

Etymology

From Old Saxon god, from Proto-Germanic *gudą.

Noun

got m (genitive godes or gades, plural gode or gade)

1. god

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Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gudą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰutós.

Noun

got m

1. god

Inflection

Declension of got

	Singular	Plural
nominative	got	goda
accusative	got	goda
genitive	godis	godô
dative	gode	godon

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: got
  • Dutch: god, God
  • Limburgish: gód, Gód

Further reading

• “got”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

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Old High German

Alternative forms

• cot

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gudą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰutós. Compare Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Old English god, Old Dutch got, Old Norse guð, Gothic 𐌲𐌿𐌸 (guþ).

Noun

got m

1. god

Derived terms

• gotmann
• irmingot

Descendants

• Middle High German: got
  • Alemannic German: Gott
  • Central Franconian: Jott
  • German: Gott
  • Luxembourgish: Gott
  • Yiddish: גאָט (got)

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Zhuang

Etymology

From Proto-Tai *koːtᴰ (“to hug; to embrace”). Cogante with Thai กอด (gɔ̀ɔt), Lao ກອດ (kǭt), Shan ၵွတ်ႇ (kàut).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /koːt˧˥/
• Tone numbers: got⁷
• Hyphenation: got

Verb

got (1957–1982 spelling got)

1. to hug; to embrace.