become

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɪˈkʌm/, /bəˈkʌm/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bicomen, inherited from Old English becuman (“to come about, happen; to arrive”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *bikweman,^[2] a Germanic compound of the sources of be- and come.^[2][3][5] The same compound gave Dutch bekomen and German bekommen, both meaning “to obtain, receive”.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To happen, come about; to come to a place, arrive: Old English becuman, about 725, in Beowulf.^[3][2][8]

Semantic evolution

Become drove out the Old English verb weorðan (“to befall, become”).^[2] The old sense “to come, arrive” lasted until 1625 and “to happen, befall” until 1655,^[9] and it survives only in what has become of it?, where it replaced where is it gone?.^[2][8] The meaning “to pass from one state into another” is from the 12th century.^[2] From the early 13th century it meant “to be fitting or proper”,^[2][9] which led to “to suit, look well on”, dated to the early 14th century by Etymonline^[2] and to 1660 by the HTOED.^[9] Becoming “suitable, attractive” is from about 1475.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English becuman, to happen (Beowulf).^[3]
• 12th century – to come to be.^[2]
• early 13th century – to be fitting.^[2][9]
• early 14th century – to suit, look well on.^[2]
• c. 1475 – becoming.^[3]
• 1625 – last use for “to arrive”.^[9]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To grow or come to be: become rich.
2. To be appropriate or suitable to.
3. To look good on or with; to suit.
4. (with of) To happen to: what became of him?

Word family

• misbecome

Related words

• come
• becoming
• befall

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)