haven
/ˈheɪvən/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.13 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A safe place.
noun
A certain type of function on sets of vertices in an undirected graph, able to be used by an evader to win a pursuit-evasion game on the graph.
name
A surname.
name
A unisex given name of modern usage.
Example Sentences
- "And the stately ships go on / To their haven under the hill;"
- "Since its conception, the European Union has been a haven for those seeking refuge from war, persecution and poverty in other parts of the world."
- "And they that occupye them bene in moche ſauegarde, and hauen greate conſolacyon, and bene the readyer vnto all goodnes, the ſlower to all euyll, and yf they haue done any thing amyſe, anone euen by the ſyght of the bookes theyꝛ conſciences bene admoniſhed, and they waxen ſoꝛy ⁊ aſhamed of the facte."
- "For Lord, what charity hauen such men of religion, that knowen how they mowen against and sinne, and fleen awat from their brethren that bene more vncunning then they ben, and suffren thē to trauelen in the world withouten their councel as beastes?"
- "The craftie Badger, the Watry Otter / Whome Howndes purſue, till they hauen got her / Theſe Beaſtes been of higheſt Regard and Price / To pleaſure Princes and to murder vice."
Etymology
From Middle English haven, havene, from Old English hæfen (“haven; harbour; port”), either from Proto-West Germanic *habanu or Old Norse hǫfn, from Proto-Germanic *habnō, *habanō (compare Dutch haven, German Hafen, Norwegian/Danish havn, Swedish hamn, French havre), from Proto-Germanic *habą (“sea”) (compare Old English hæf, Middle Low German haf, Old Norse haf (“sea”), German Haff (“bay or lagoon behind a spit”), perhaps, in the sense of "heaving sea", etymologically identical with Old Norse haf (“heaving, lifting, uplift, elevation”), derived from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to lift, heave”)), or from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pnós (compare Old Irish cúan (“harbor, recess, haven”)). Doublet of abra.