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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

because.

By or for the cause that; on this account that; for the reason that.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

conj/bɪkəz//bɪˈkɒz//bɪˈkʌz//bɪˈkɔːz/dated
  1. By or for the cause that; on this account that; for the reason that.

    I hid myself because I was afraid.
  2. As is known, inferred, or determined from the fact that.

    It must be broken, because I pressed the button and nothing happened.
    I don't think he is a nice person, because he yells at people for no reason.
  3. So that, in order that.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bi Proto-West Germanic *bī Old English bī Middle English by Proto-Italic *kaussā Old Latin caussa Latin causabor. Old French causebor. Middle English cause Middle English bi cause English because From Middle English bi cause, from bi (“by”) + cause, modelled on Old French par cause.

adv/bɪkəz//bɪˈkɒz//bɪˈkʌz//bɪˈkɔːz/dated
  1. On account, for sake [with of].

    not-comparable
    My life is ruined because of you!
  2. For the reason [with that].

    not-comparable · obsolete
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bi Proto-West Germanic *bī Old English bī Middle English by Proto-Italic *kaussā Old Latin caussa Latin causabor. Old French causebor. Middle English cause Middle English bi cause English because From Middle English bi cause, from bi (“by”) + cause, modelled on Old French par cause.

intj/bɪkəz//bɪˈkɒz//bɪˈkʌz//bɪˈkɔːz/dated
  1. Used alone to refuse to provide a full answer to a question begun with "why", usually taken as an anapodoton of the elided full phrase "Because I said so".

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bi Proto-West Germanic *bī Old English bī Middle English by Proto-Italic *kaussā Old Latin caussa Latin causabor. Old French causebor. Middle English cause Middle English bi cause English because From Middle English bi cause, from bi (“by”) + cause, modelled on Old French par cause.

prep/bɪkəz//bɪˈkɒz//bɪˈkʌz//bɪˈkɔːz/dated
  1. On account of, because of.

    Internet · colloquial
    He rejected me because revenge, I guess.
    It doesn't work because reasons.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bi Proto-West Germanic *bī Old English bī Middle English by Proto-Italic *kaussā Old Latin caussa Latin causabor. Old French causebor. Middle English cause Middle English bi cause English because From Middle English bi cause, from bi (“by”) + cause, modelled on Old French par cause.

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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.