# been

Pronunciation: US say "BIN" /bɪn/; UK say "BEEN" /biːn/

## Verb

1. Past participle of be. — past participle of be.
   - Simple: Past participle of be. Use it after have, has or had.
   - _There have been several complaints about the noise since the new tenants moved in._
   - _The bridge had been closed for repairs when the storm hit._
2. In Southern US and African American Vernacular English, a form of be that places an action or state in the remote past. *(dialectal, US)*
   - Simple: Used in some Southern US and African American speech to show that something happened long ago.
   - _Don't act surprised; everybody been knew he planned to move to Atlanta._
   - _My grandmother been paid off that house, so the bank can't touch it._
3. In some dialects, chiefly Southern US and African American Vernacular speech, a form used in place of the infinitive be, typically after used to or going to. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: In some local speech, mostly Southern US and African American, a form used instead of be after words like used to.
   - _That old road used to been nothing but dirt and gravel._
   - _Before the mill closed down, that empty lot used to been the busiest store in town._

## Verb

4. Plural simple present of be. Obsolete; modern English uses are. *(obsolete)* — plural simple present of be.
   - Simple: Plural present tense of be. A very old form that meant are.

## Other meanings

- (noun) Plural of bee. Dialectal, in parts of the UK; the standard plural is bees.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2** — Old English (ġe)bēon gave Middle English been, the past participle of be. Analyzed by its parts, it is be plus -en.
**Meaning 3** — Either from Middle English been ("to be", the infinitive), from Old English bēon, equivalent to be + the infinitive ending -en; or from a dialect use of the past form been as an infinitive, much like dialect forms such as "I is" or "he am".
**Meaning 4** — In Middle English, been served as a plural indicative of be. It is made of be and -en, which was then the ending for present plurals.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/been (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).