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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

become.

begin to be; turn into (often with permanent states).

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/bɪˈkʌm/Southern-England/bəˈkʌm/Southern-England/bɪˈkʊm/Northern-England/bəˈkʊm/Northern-England
  1. begin to be; turn into (often with permanent states).

    copulative
    She became a doctor when she was 25.
    The weather will become cold after the sun goes down.
  2. To come about; happen; come into being; arise.

    intransitive
    What became of him after he was let go?
    It hath becomen so that many a man had to sterve.
  3. To be appropriate for.

    transitive
  4. Of an adornment, piece of clothing etc.: to look attractive on (someone).

    transitive
    That dress really becomes you.
  5. To arrive, come (to a place).

    intransitive · obsolete
  6. To get, receive.

Where this word comes from

A compound of the sources of be- + come. From Middle English becomen, bicumen, from Old English becuman (“to come (to), approach, arrive, enter, meet with, fall in with; happen, befall; befit”), from Proto-Germanic *bikwemaną (“to come around, come about, come across, come by”), equivalent to be- (“about, around”) + come. Cognate with Scots becum (“to come, arrive, reach a destination”), North Frisian bekommen, bykommen (“to come by, obtain, receive”), West Frisian bikomme (“to come by, obtain, receive”), Dutch bekomen (“to come by, obtain, receive”), German bekommen (“to get, receive, obtain”), Swedish bekomma (“to receive, concern”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (biqiman, “to come upon one, befall”). Sense of "befit, suit" due to influence from Middle English cweme, icweme, see queem. Displaced Old English weorþan.

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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.