taken

See also: tåken

English

Alternative forms

• ta'en, tane (archaic, dialectal, Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English taken, takenn, from Old English tacen, *ġetacen, from Old Norse tekinn, from Proto-Germanic *tēkanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *tēkaną (“to take; grasp; touch”). Cognate with Scots takin, tane, Danish tagen, Swedish tagen, Icelandic tekin.

Morphologically take +‎ -n.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈteɪ.kn̩/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪkən
• Hyphenation: tak‧en

Adjective

taken (not comparable)

1. Infatuated; fond of or attracted to.

   He was very taken with the girl, I hear.

2. (informal) In a serious romantic relationship.

   I can't ask her out, she's taken.

Derived terms

• is this seat taken
• taken aback

Translations

infatuated, fond of or attracted to

• Albanian: Zan(geg)
• Czech: zaujatý
• Finnish: pihkassa (fi)
• German: ergriffen (de), eingenommen (de)
• Italian: infatuato (it) m, attratto (it) m, coinvolto (it) m
• Norwegian: betatt
• Swedish: förtjust (sv) (followed by "i"), intagen (sv) (followed by "av" or "i")

informal: in a relationship

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: مرتبط

• Czech: zadaný (cs) m, zadaná f
• Finnish: varattu (fi)
• German: vergeben (de)
• Italian: impegnato (it), coinvolto (it)
• Norwegian: opptatt
• Polish: zajęty (pl) m, zajęta f

Verb

taken

1. past participle of take
   • 1662, John Baxter, A Saint Or a Brute […] ‎^[1], page 26:

     No doubt many a journey you have rode and gone, and many a hard daies labour you have taken, and ſharpened perhaps with care and grief […]

Anagrams

• Kenta, tekan

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːkən
• IPA^(key): /ˈtaːkə(n)/

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch tāken, from Old Dutch *takan, from Proto-West Germanic *takan (“to take; grasp, touch”), from Proto-Germanic *takaną (“to touch, grasp; take”).

Verb

taken

1. (archaic, dialectal) to take, to grasp
2. (archaic, dialectal) to touch

Conjugation

Conjugation of taken (weak)
infinitive	taken
past singular	taakte
past participle	getaakt
infinitive	taken
gerund	taken n
	present tense	past tense
1st person singular	taak	taakte
2nd person sing. (jij)	taakt, taak2	taakte
2nd person sing. (u)	taakt	taakte
2nd person sing. (gij)	taakt	taakte
3rd person singular	taakt	taakte
plural	taken	taakten
subjunctive sing.1	take	taakte
subjunctive plur.1	taken	taakten
imperative sing.	taak
imperative plur.1	taakt
participles	takend	getaakt
1) Archaic. 2) In case of inversion.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

taken

1. plural of taak

Anagrams

• akten, kante, tanke

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *takan, from Proto-West Germanic *takan (“to take; grasp, touch”), from Proto-Germanic *takaną (“to touch, grasp; take”).

Verb

tāken

1. to take, to grab
2. to get, to achieve

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: taken
• Limburgish: take

Further reading

• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “taken”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English

Etymology 1

From late Old English tacan, from Old Norse taka, from Proto-Germanic *tēkaną (“to touch, grasp”).

Alternative forms

• tak, take, takon, takke, tac, tacke, thake, to
• ta, tan, tane (Northern)
• tacen, tæcen (Early Middle English)

Verb

taken (third-person singular simple present taketh, present participle takinge, first-/third-person singular past indicative tok, past participle taken)

2. to take
   • c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 33–34:

     And made forward erly for to ryse / To take our wey, ther as I yow devyse.

     And made agreement that we'd early rise / To take the road, as I will to you apprise.

Conjugation

Conjugation of taken (strong class 6)

infinitive	(to) taken, take
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	take	tok
2nd-person singular	takest	toke1
3rd-person singular	taketh	tok
subjunctive singular	take	toke2
imperative singular		—
plural3	taken, take	token, toke
imperative plural	taketh, take	—
participles	takynge, takende	taken, take, ytaken, ytake

¹ Later replaced by the 1st-/3rd-person singular or tokest.
² Later replaced by the indicative.
³ Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Derived terms

• tak

Descendants

• English: take

  Geordie: tyek

• Scots: tak, ta
• Yola: taake

References

• “tāken, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• take, takene, takun, takuth, teken
• tas, tase (Northern); ta, tan (northwest Midlands)

Verb

taken

1. present indicative/subjunctive plural of taken (“to take”)

Etymology 3

Alternative forms

• take, tak, takene, takenne, takine, takein, takon, takun, thaken, toke, token, tok, tane, tan, taked
• tain, taine, tone, ton, toine, tene (Northern); tain, taine (northeast Midlands)

Verb

taken

1. past participle of taken (“to take”)

Etymology 4

Noun

taken (plural takenes)

1. (Northern, Early Middle English) alternative form of token

Etymology 5

Verb

taken (third-person singular simple present taketh, present participle takende, takynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle taked)

1. (Northern) alternative form of toknen

Swedish

Noun

taken

1. definite plural of tak

Anagrams

• akten, naket, nekat, tanke