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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

behold.

To look at or see (someone or something), especially appreciatively; to descry, to look upon.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/bɪˈhəʊld/UK/bɪˈhoʊld/Canada, General-American/biˈhoʊld/Canada, General-American

  1. To look at or see (someone or something), especially appreciatively; to descry, to look upon.

    transitive

  2. To contemplate (someone or something).

    transitive

  3. To look.

    intransitive
    Lo and behold.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English biholden, from Old English behealdan (“to hold, possess, preserve, belong, keep, observe, look at, take care, beware, be cautious, restrain, act, behave”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihaldan (“to hold with, keep”), equivalent to be- + hold. Cognate with Saterland Frisian behoolde (“to keep”), Dutch behouden (“to keep, restrain, preserve”), German behalten (“to keep, restrain, remember”), Danish and Norwegian beholde (“to keep”) and Swedish behålla (“to keep”).

intj/bɪˈhəʊld/UK/bɪˈhoʊld/Canada, General-American/biˈhoʊld/Canada, General-American

  1. look, a call of attention to something

  2. lo!

Where this word comes from

From Middle English biholden, from Old English behealdan (“to hold, possess, preserve, belong, keep, observe, look at, take care, beware, be cautious, restrain, act, behave”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihaldan (“to hold with, keep”), equivalent to be- + hold. Cognate with Saterland Frisian behoolde (“to keep”), Dutch behouden (“to keep, restrain, preserve”), German behalten (“to keep, restrain, remember”), Danish and Norwegian beholde (“to keep”) and Swedish behålla (“to keep”).

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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.