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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

then.

At that time.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adv/ðɛn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ðɪn/US, pin-pen-merger/ðen/Australia, New-Zealand

  1. At that time.

    not-comparable
    He was happy then.

  2. Soon afterward.

    not-comparable
    He fixed it, then left.
    Turn left, then right, then right again, then keep going until you reach the service station.

  3. Next in order of place.

    not-comparable · sequence
    There are three green ones, then a blue one.

  4. In addition; also; besides.

    not-comparable

  5. In that case.

    conjunctive · not-comparable
    If it’s locked, then we’ll need the key.
    Is it 12 o’clock already? Then it’s time for me to leave.

  6. At the same time; on the other hand.

    not-comparable · sequence
    That’s a nice shirt, but then, so is the other one.
    The forms inheritress and inheritrix are used only in literature, and then but rarely.

  7. Used to contradict an assertion.

    UK · dialectal · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English then(ne), than(ne), from Old English þonne, þanne, þænne (“then, at that time”), from Proto-West Germanic *þan, from Proto-Germanic *þan (“at that (time), then”), from earlier *þam, from Proto-Indo-European *tóm, accusative masculine of *só (“demonstrative pronoun, that”). Cognate with Dutch dan (“then”), German dann (“then”), Swedish då (“then”), Icelandic þá (“then”). Doublet of than.

adj/ðɛn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ðɪn/US, pin-pen-merger/ðen/Australia, New-Zealand

  1. Being so at that time.

    attributive · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English then(ne), than(ne), from Old English þonne, þanne, þænne (“then, at that time”), from Proto-West Germanic *þan, from Proto-Germanic *þan (“at that (time), then”), from earlier *þam, from Proto-Indo-European *tóm, accusative masculine of *só (“demonstrative pronoun, that”). Cognate with Dutch dan (“then”), German dann (“then”), Swedish då (“then”), Icelandic þá (“then”). Doublet of than.

noun/ðɛn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ðɪn/US, pin-pen-merger/ðen/Australia, New-Zealand

  1. That time.

    It will be finished before then.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English then(ne), than(ne), from Old English þonne, þanne, þænne (“then, at that time”), from Proto-West Germanic *þan, from Proto-Germanic *þan (“at that (time), then”), from earlier *þam, from Proto-Indo-European *tóm, accusative masculine of *só (“demonstrative pronoun, that”). Cognate with Dutch dan (“then”), German dann (“then”), Swedish då (“then”), Icelandic þá (“then”). Doublet of than.

conj/ðɛn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ðɪn/US, pin-pen-merger/ðen/Australia, New-Zealand

  1. Obsolete spelling of than.

    alt-of · obsolete

  2. Misspelling of than.

    alt-of · misspelling
Where this word comes from

From Middle English then(ne), than(ne), from Old English þonne, þanne, þænne (“then, at that time”), from Proto-West Germanic *þan, from Proto-Germanic *þan (“at that (time), then”), from earlier *þam, from Proto-Indo-European *tóm, accusative masculine of *só (“demonstrative pronoun, that”). Cognate with Dutch dan (“then”), German dann (“then”), Swedish då (“then”), Icelandic þá (“then”). Doublet of than.

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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.