behave
/bɪˈheɪv/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.00 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "You need to behave yourself, young lady."
- "And the manifest signs that came from heaven unto those that behaved themselves manfully to their honour for Judaism[…]"
- "He behaves like a child whenever she's around."
- "How did the students behave while I was gone?"
- "My laptop has been behaving erratically ever since you borrowed it."
- "Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap-der. Proto-Germanic *habjaną Proto-West Germanic *habbjan Proto-West Germanic *bihabbjan Old English behabban Middle English behaven English behave From Middle English behaven, bihabben (“to restrain, behave”), from Old English behabban (“to surround, embrace, hold, contain, hold back, withhold, restrain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihabbjan, equivalent to be- + have. Cognate with Middle Low German behebben, behāven (“to receive, acquire, reach, keep”), Low German behebben (“to act, behave”), German behaben (“to behave”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bɪˈheɪv/
- British English: /bᵻˈheɪv/
Usage
Inflected Forms
behaves (present, singular)
behaving (participle, present)
behaved (participle, past)
behaved (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
behaved (first person, past)
behavest (archaic, present)
behaved (past, second person)
behavedst (archaic, past)
behaveth (archaic, present)
behaved (past, singular)