overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

get.

To obtain; to acquire.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɡɛt/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡɪt//ɡet/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. To obtain; to acquire.

    ditransitive · transitive
    I'm going to get a computer tomorrow from the discount store.
    Lance is going to get Mary a ring.
  2. To receive.

    transitive
    I got a computer from my parents for my birthday.
    He got a severe reprimand for that.
  3. To have. See usage notes.

    transitive
    I've got a concert ticket for you.
  4. To fetch, bring, take.

    transitive
    Can you get my bag from the living-room, please?
    I need to get this to the office.
  5. To become, or cause oneself to become (often with temporary states, past participle adjectives and comparatives).

    copulative
    I'm getting hungry; how about you?
    I'm going out to get drunk.
  6. To cause to become; to bring about.

    transitive
    That song gets me so depressed every time I hear it.
    I'll get this finished by lunchtime.
  7. To cause to do.

    transitive
    Somehow she got him to agree to it.
    I can't get it to work.
  8. To cause to come or go or move.

    transitive
    I got him to his room.
  9. To adopt, assume, arrive at, or progress towards (a certain position, location, state).

    intransitive · usually
    The actors are getting into position.
    When are we going to get to London?
  10. To cover (a certain distance) while travelling.

    transitive
    to get a mile
  11. (with full infinitive or gerund-participle) To begin (doing something or to do something).

    catenative · intransitive
    We ought to get moving or we'll be late.
    After lunch we got chatting.
  12. To take or catch (a scheduled transportation service).

    transitive
    I normally get the 7:45 train.
    I'll get the 9 a.m. [flight] to Boston.
  13. To respond to (a telephone call, a doorbell, etc).

    transitive
    Can you get that call, please? I'm busy.
  14. (with full infinitive) To be able, be permitted, or have the opportunity (to do something desirable or ironically implied to be desirable).

    catenative · intransitive
    I'm so jealous that you got to see them perform live!
    The finders get to keep 80 percent of the treasure.
  15. To understand. (compare get it)

    informal · transitive
    Yeah, I get it, it's just not funny.
    I don't get what you mean by "fun". This place sucks!
  16. To be told; be the recipient of (a question, comparison, opinion, etc.).

    informal · transitive
    "You look just like Helen Mirren." / "I get that a lot."
  17. Used with the past participle to form the dynamic passive voice of a dynamic verb. Compared with static passive with to be, this emphasizes the commencement of an action or entry into a state.

    auxiliary · informal
    He got bitten by a dog.
  18. Used with a pronoun subject, usually you but sometimes one, to indicate that the object of the verb exists, can occur or is otherwise typical.

    impersonal · informal
    You get some very rude people here.
    It was the kind of shop you used to get in most small towns.
  19. To become ill with or catch (a disease).

    transitive
    I went on holiday and got malaria.
  20. To catch out, trick successfully.

    informal · transitive
    He keeps calling pretending to be my boss—it gets me every time.
  21. To perplex, stump.

    informal · transitive
    That question's really got me.
  22. To find as an answer.

    transitive
    What did you get for question four?
  23. To bring to reckoning; to catch (usually as a criminal); to effect retribution.

    informal · transitive
    The cops finally got me.
    I'm gonna get him for that.
  24. To hear completely; catch.

    transitive
    Sorry, I didn't get that. Could you repeat it?
  25. To getter.

    transitive
    I put the getter into the container to get the gases.
  26. To beget (of a father).

    archaic
  27. To learn; to commit to memory; to memorize; sometimes with out.

    archaic
    to get a lesson;  to get out one's Greek lesson
  28. Used with a personal pronoun to indicate that someone is being pretentious or grandiose.

    imperative · informal
    Get her with her new hairdo.
  29. To go, to leave; to scram.

    imperative · informal · intransitive
  30. To kill.

    euphemistic
    They’re coming to get you, Barbara.
  31. To make acquisitions; to gain; to profit.

    intransitive · obsolete
  32. To measure.

    transitive
    Did you get her temperature?
  33. To cause someone to laugh.

    transitive
    It gets me every time!
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʰe(n)d-der. Proto-Indo-European *gʰed-eti Proto-Germanic *getaną Old Norse getabor. Middle English geten English get From Middle English geten, from Old Norse geta, from Proto-Germanic *getaną (“to find; to acquire, attain, get, hold, receive”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to find; to hold; to seize; to take”). Cognates Cognate with Yola get (“to get”), Danish gide (“to care, like”), Faroese gita (“to be able”), Icelandic geta (“to be able; to beget, father; to achieve, obtain, to guess; to mention”), Norwegian Nynorsk gjeta, gjete (“to guess; to mention”), Scanian gida (“to have the energy to, to feel up for”), gæda (“to guess”), Swedish gita, gitta (“to be able, to bring oneself to, to care”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌲𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bigitan, “to discover, find”); also Latin edera, hedera (“ivy”), praeda (“booty, pillage, plunder; prey; gain, profit”), prehendō, prēndō (“to grab, grasp, seize; to attain, reach”), Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to comprise, contain, hold”), Albanian gjej (“to find”).

noun/ɡɛt/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡɪt//ɡet/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. Offspring, especially illegitimate.

    dated
  2. Lineage.

  3. A difficult return or block of a shot.

  4. Something gotten, something gained or won; an acquisition.

    informal
  5. A message or post on an online platform, particularly imageboards, with a unique identifier deemed special or rare, usually due to patterns in the ID.

    Internet
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʰe(n)d-der. Proto-Indo-European *gʰed-eti Proto-Germanic *getaną Old Norse getabor. Middle English geten English get From Middle English geten, from Old Norse geta, from Proto-Germanic *getaną (“to find; to acquire, attain, get, hold, receive”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to find; to hold; to seize; to take”). Cognates Cognate with Yola get (“to get”), Danish gide (“to care, like”), Faroese gita (“to be able”), Icelandic geta (“to be able; to beget, father; to achieve, obtain, to guess; to mention”), Norwegian Nynorsk gjeta, gjete (“to guess; to mention”), Scanian gida (“to have the energy to, to feel up for”), gæda (“to guess”), Swedish gita, gitta (“to be able, to bring oneself to, to care”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌲𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bigitan, “to discover, find”); also Latin edera, hedera (“ivy”), praeda (“booty, pillage, plunder; prey; gain, profit”), prehendō, prēndō (“to grab, grasp, seize; to attain, reach”), Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to comprise, contain, hold”), Albanian gjej (“to find”).

noun/ɡɛt/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡɪt//ɡet/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. Synonym of git (“contemptible person”).

    Ireland · UK · regional
Where this word comes from

Variant of git.

noun/ɡɛt/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡɪt//ɡet/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. A Jewish writ of divorce.

    Judaism
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Sumerian 𒁍der. Sumerian 𒁍𒁕bor. Akkadian 𒁍𒁕der.? Hebrew גֵּט (gēṭ)der. English get From Hebrew גֵּט (gēṭ).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

get has 3 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

get studioget workshello, get

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.