befangen.
to apprehend, to seize, to grasp, to conceive
Meaning & usage
to apprehend, to seize, to grasp, to conceive
to encompass, to surround
Where this word comes from
From Middle High German bevāhen, from Old High German bifāhan, from Proto-West Germanic *bifą̄han. Equivalent to be- + fangen. The homonymic past participle is continued as adjective.
biased, prejudiced
bashful, shy, self-conscious
caught up, stuck, trapped (in a mindset, of a person)
Where this word comes from
From Middle High German bevangen, from Old High German bifangan, from Proto-West Germanic *bifangan. Synchronically, the past participle of etymology 1.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.