Been
/biːn/noun
Past participle of be, used with auxiliary verbs to form perfect tenses.
Did you know?“Been” descends from the same Indo-European root as English “am,” “is,” and “are,” making it part of one of the oldest surviving verb families in English.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*bʰuH-
“to become, to grow, to be”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*beuną / *bijaną
“to be, become”
Old English
English
bēon
“to be, become”
Middle English
English
been
“to be; later the past participle form”
Modern English
English
been
“past participle of be”