The verb «bear» has more than a couple of past participles to its credit. However, those variations of the word do not mean the same thing – the context and accompanying words ascertain their final meanings. That is certainly the case with the terms «born» and «borne».
The word «born» means «to give birth», and it should be used in sentences that carry the same meaning. The term «borne», however, means «transmit» or «carry», and should be used in your writings accordingly. That said, the word could also be used to mean «birthing», in a figurative sense.
Keep reading to learn the meanings of the two terms, their roots and origins, how to use them in a range of writing scenarios, how the two terms overlap with each other, and lots more.
A Brief Intro to the Verbs «Born» and «Borne»
The word «born» is the past participle of «bear», which means to «bring about», «carry», or «tolerate something». The verb «bear» could also mean bringing an offspring or baby into the world.
Like «born», the word «borne» is also the past form of «bear», and it means «transmitted or transported by». The term «borne» could be used instead of «carried», «kept», «suffered», and at times «given birth».
Origins of «Born» and «Borne»
The verb «born» comes from the Old English term «boren», which is the past form of «beran», meaning «to bear». «Beran» is the Old English word of Germanic origin and some Indo-European, Greek, and Latin influences. The term «borne» has its roots in «beran» too.
«Bear» – Laying the Foundation
The word «bear» essentially means «to tolerate something». The term is commonly used in expressions such as «can’t bear». The past participle is «bore» and «borne» is its «-ed» form.
The verb «bear», as mentioned above, is at times used for describing the act of «birthing». It’s commonly used in past participle and in formal contexts. When discussing «giving birth», the word «have» is more common.
«Born» and «Borne» – Unique Homophones
The terms «born» and «borne» are homophones, which means they sound the same when pronounced but have different meanings and spellings. However, unlike other homophones, these two words work as the same speech element, as mentioned above. Their usage is ascertained primarily by the context in which they get used.
Both «born» and «borne» need «helping» or «auxiliary verbs» to carry them in a sentence. The helping verbs commonly used in tandem with them include «be», «been», «being», «were», «was», and «am», to name a few. These supporting verbs help «born» and «borne» to exhibit potential or possibility or create an entirely different verb tense.
Using the Word «Born» in Writings
There is a slight yet significant difference between «born» and «borne». When emphasis must be put on an offspring or a thing brought forth through birth, the verb to use is «born», and it must occur in passive sentence constructs only. For example:
- She was born in Oklahoma.
- No kids have been born near the North Pole ever since.
- The kids were born after they got married.
The term «born» is also commonly used to denote someone possessing a quality or character from birth or to indicate someone is the native of a particular region, as in «German-born doctor» or a «Miami-born New Yorker».
Suppose a woman gave birth to a baby in Germany. In that case, the baby becomes a German-born person. The phrase «German-born» doesn’t indicate the country of Germany gave birth to the baby. It just means the baby was born on German soil.
The word «born» also works as an adjective, meaning «innate», «by birth», or «native». A scientist can be a «born» genius or expert, but they cannot be a «borne» scientist. The phrase «borne scientist», in fact, means the scientist likes being carried around.
Though the word «born» is used to refer to childbirth, the term could also be used figuratively. Here is a sentence demonstrating the same:
- The protests were born out of the council member’s refusal to permit the hiring of additional teachers.
When used figuratively, the term «born» could mean «arising from», as illustrated in the above sentence.
Using the Word «Borne» in Writings
The word «borne» too, as mentioned above, is the past form of «bear», but it doesn’t denote physical birth or is not incorporated in sentences in that sense. The word, as mentioned above, is primarily used to mean «carried» or something similar. For example:
- Judges have borne the burden of responsibility always.
- He had borne ammunition against us.
The same sentence can be modified a bit to replace «borne» with «bear», exhibiting «borne» is indeed the past participle of «bear»:
- Judges have to bear the burden of responsibility always.
That said, «borne» could come extremely close to «born» in meaning at times since the word also fits in where the intended message’s meaning is on the lines of «to bring about» or «to produce». For example:
- Our plans have borne fruit.
In the sentence above, the term «borne» comes dangerously close to the word «birth», in the literal sense.
The past participle «borne» is commonly used in phrases such as «mosquito-borne disease» or «foodborne illness». In these example phrases, «borne» translates as «carried by». Neither «mosquitoes» nor «food» birthed the disease.
«Borne» – Alternate Meanings
The verb «borne» is commonly used in conjunction with another term. However, when the word is used without a prefix, it could assume another meaning.
The term could mean «to confirm» or «corroborate» when used as a standalone term. For example:
- The rumors surrounding the company not doing well were borne by its quarterly results.
In the following sentence, the word «borne» means «having taken up responsibility for something»:
- The upgrade was elaborate and expensive, but we didn’t feel the pinch too much as my husband’s company had borne the majority of the costs.
Unlike «born», «borne» functions widely as the past participle verb of «to bear». However, quite a few writers use «beared» instead, which is an incorrect word.
What is «Bore»?
«Born» and «borne» aren’t the only two past participle forms of «bear». There is one more word for the course, «bore».
The term «bore» could assume different meanings – for example, «to drill», «perforate», «passage», «tediousness», etc. However, in the context of this article, the word means «support», «hold up», «absorb», etc. The difference between «bore» and «borne» is that the latter is passive, and the former is active.
Therefore, if you’re using active voice and the sentence’s subject is «bearing» something, the term «bore» is used. For example:
- The mango tree bore mangoes.
If the above sentence is written in the passive voice, «borne» will be used. For example:
- The mangoes were borne by the mango tree.
It is, therefore, vital to know and remember the differences between «borne» and «bore», and also «borne» and «born».
Example Sentences with the Word «Born»
The following are sentences incorporating the word «born», to help you understand how it could be incorporated into writings both literally and in its figurative sense:
- Kids born out of wedlock must be protected through proper custody arrangements.
- I was not born last week to be fooled by that trick.
- The Democratic Party member, who was born during the Cold War, won the polls by a considerable margin.
- They visited me six weeks later, after the kids were born.
- Despite being born and raised in a conservative family, she had an extremely modern fashion sense.
- His offer was purely born of guilt.
- He is a born artist.
- I was not born in Chicago, even though my accent might indicate otherwise.
- My mother was second born, just like her mother.
- The words he used were born of desperation.
Example Sentences with the Word «Borne»
Here are sentences using the word «borne»:
- Tick-borne infections have spread widely across the continent.
- As far as she could tell, he had borne everything without letting anyone know anything.
- The three Persian kings had borne the same name.
- He had chiefly borne the brunt of the aggression, which won her great laurels.
- The incredible attention to detail he paid right from the beginning had borne great fruit.
- The two kids that she had borne were already grown.
- He has borne all his issues with great courage.
- Her predictions weren’t borne out in actuality.
- All costs linked with the vehicle recall shall be borne by the company and not the customers.
- She had borne a daughter during that difficult period.
- Water-borne bacteria have been the primary cause of the disease in the region.
Conclusion
There is just one letter setting apart «born» and «borne», and that one alphabet is enough to give the respective words their distinctive meanings. But since the two terms share the same root word, it could be difficult not to use them interchangeably.
Once you get familiar with the words a bit more and in the contexts in which they get used, the line demarcating «born» and «borne» will get thicker. The example sentences aforementioned should give you a fair idea of the circumstances or the kinds of phrases or word combinations in which the two words get used.
Shawn Manaher is the founder and CEO of The Content Authority. He’s one part content manager, one part writing ninja organizer, and two parts leader of top content creators. You don’t even want to know what he calls pancakes.
Sentences using the word borne. The sentences below are ordered by length from shorter and easier to longer and more complex. They use borne in a sentence, providing visitors a sentence for borne.
- Borne hesitated. (9)
- She has borne it! (10)
- How had he borne that? (10)
- What have I not borne? (10)
- Even this was borne with. (10)
- He had borne unheard-of things. (10)
- And off in a gallop Polly was borne. (10)
- Hart was borne along in the current. (13)
- I should not have borne it as she did. (10)
- She looked a captive borne to the sacrifice. (10)
- But June again refused, so they were borne away. (8)
- It was borne in the latter with decent philosophy. (4)
- She had borne so much that this new drop was poison. (10)
- Borne stooped over and kissed her, and went to the door. (9)
- The young husband went about as if he were borne on wings. (5)
- Your life was a hard one, but you have borne the burden bravely. (5)
- Noel saw her borne away, still sucking at her dirty swollen hand. (8)
- Could she have borne that anyone should see herself thus prostrate? (8)
- How would she have borne it before she knew of the infinitely evil? (10)
- And for herself the worst might happen if only she were borne along. (10)
- The sound of the guns had borne down on the other ship of the blockade. (18)
- He was her husband; she had borne him five; he had been wounded in the war. (8)
- It only irritated Hilary, whose nerves had already borne all they could bear. (8)
- But her husband was fully entitled to any share of them that he may have borne. (9)
- Margaret could have borne either alone, but together they were wearing her out. (9)
- From the first Kuni had believed that she knew who was being borne to the grave. (5)
- There came, borne to us on the raw morning air, the long, weird note of a bugle. (7)
- Their loud shouts were borne by the cool night breeze to the sufferer in the cart. (5)
- Her body lying still upon the bed here was a soul borne onward by the river of Death. (10)
- It was too great a shock to be borne with calmness, and she immediately left the room. (4)
- Amble, will you come on shore instantly, I have borne with your stupidity long enough. (10)
- I do not doubt that he supposed himself to have borne the heat and burden of the strife. (7)
- It was his horse that wheeled; compulsorily he was borne at a short canter to her side. (10)
- Sir Walter could not have borne the degradation of being known to design letting his house. (4)
- She had loved her womb because it had borne him; she hated it now because she had lost him. (12)
- She was quick to interpose between me and the form I had once raised and borne undisputedly. (10)
- Truly, in spite of many discouragements, the fleur-de-lys was being borne westward valiantly. (19)
- I could have borne a shrewish tongue better, possibly because I could have answered it better. (10)
- I could have borne a shrewish tongue better, possibly because I could have answered it better. (22)
- George was alone once more, and he let himself be borne along on the rushing subterranean stream. (5)
- Schwartz had borne himself with extraordinary discretion by forbearing to spread alarm at the palace. (10)
- Upon arriving, the coffin was borne into the chapel, and, two by two, the mourners filed in behind it. (8)
- If the men had borne their part as well, there would not have been these tears: and yet, what am I saying? (9)
- She left the room for a moment; then came the wine and glasses on a tray, borne by that impossible Italian! (7)
- And a comprehensible pride (for so would Dudley have borne it) keeps the forsaken man silent up to death: . (10)
- Yet it must be borne in mind that he was somewhat hampered by his official position as well as inspired by it. (14)
- She was borne along by the tide like a butterfly that a fish may gobble unless a friendly hand shall intervene. (10)
- To bear what she had borne she must be a passionless woman; and she was glad of her present safety in thinking it. (10)
- Next, we see the standard of Great Britain furled; next, unfurled and borne by a troop of shadows to the sentrybox. (10)
- It was in the order of things that the great Mel should be borne to his final resting-place by a troop of creditors. (10)
- Spontini was the last of the many Italians who had for a century and a half borne almost uninterrupted sway in Germany. (3)
- Donacona and the other Indian braves whom the French had borne away never returned to Stadacona and their forest haunts. (19)
- To be listened to and borne with, and hear the voice of kindness and sympathy in return, was everything that could be done for her. (4)
- The whole record of his life, from his eighteenth month, is a chronicle of fever and ill-health, borne always with heroic fortitude. (2)
- Their expenses of travel, board and bed are all borne by the management, and other requirements of a circus campaign are few and small. (21)
- The scales seemed to fall from my eyes, and I realised why the Ueberhells had borne such an evil and dreaded name among their fellow-citizens. (5)
- He had for years borne much that was distasteful to him, for the purpose of studying, and with his poor income helping the poorer than himself. (10)
- She leaned back, nestling her chin and half closing her eyes, suffering herself to be divided from him, borne away by forces she acquiesced in. (10)
- Their faces, hands, and feet were often frost-bitten, and on some occasions half the force of a detachment would be borne back entirely disabled. (19)
- And the sunlight played through the leaves on that little party of the three generations grouped tranquilly under the pear-tree, which had long borne no fruit. (8)
Also see sentences for: overborne.
Definition of borne:
- borne, brn, pa.p. of bear, to carry.(0)
Glad you visited this page with a sentence for borne. Now that you’ve seen how to use borne in a sentence hope you might explore the rest of this educational reference site Sentencefor.com to see many other example sentences which provide word usage information.
More Sentence Examples
Select First Letter
Definition of Borne
carried or spread by
Examples of Borne in a sentence
The Zika virus is thought to be borne through mosquitoes that carry the disease.
🔊
The illness was borne through undercooked food.
🔊
Borne through dirty drinking water, giardia is a deadly parasite that can kill its victims.
🔊
The flu is an illness borne via the air, so people need to get vaccinated against it.
🔊
The scientists were studying how the virus was borne.
🔊
Other words in the Health and Mind category:
Most Searched Words (with Video)
“Born” is the most commonly used term, especially for someone who came into existence, while “Borne” is similar to or related to “Born” as a past participle of “Bear”, and means “give birth to.” “Borne” is not grammatically wrong or associated with other language preferences, though, “Born vs. Borne” is interchangeably used incorrectly in some sentences. It seems difficult to determine whether “Borne or Borne” is the right term to be used because of its close meaning and because it confuses beginner writers and non-native English speakers. The tricky part of using “Born” or “Borne” in phrases is when it is used in a colloquial phrase like, “born out of” or “borne out.” Comparing “Born vs. Borne” they are somewhat the same, but they are not really that similar when used. The phrase “born out of” is figuratively stating “a start.” For example, “Our communal vow was born out of friendship.” On the other hand, “borne out” means it is confirmed or proven. The sentence example is “My plan was borne out by the necessity of my children.”
The differences and comparisons between “Born” and “Borne” Born are listed below.
- “Born” means existence as a result of birth.
- “Born” is an adjective term perfectly suited or trained to do a particular job or task.
- “Born” word describes having a natural ability to do a particular job or task.
- “Born” is the past participle of the verb “bear.”
- “Borne” describes being carried or transported by the thing specified.
- “Borne” means “to contain” or “to give birth to.”
- “Borne” word is the past participle of “bear.”
Deciding what word to use is slightly easy as long as the meaning is learned and emphasized in the sentence when using “Born” or “Borne.” Use the word “Born”, if the sentence or phrase needs to describe a person’s birth or origin. The word “Born” is used to bring up a memory or event that describes an origin or beginning. An example is, “I was born in Houston, Texas.” The sentence states that the word “Born” is used to describe the origin or the offspring. Besides that, there are ways to use “Born” to describe someone’s personality that is being possessed since birth. Sentence example, “Dory is a born leader.” The word “Born” in the sentence describes that Dory (the subject) possessed the ability to be a leader ever since. It is important to know the meaning of each word in order to deliver the right information or idea to the readers. Content writing is an example of providing the fact that is concise without fluff words or misleading information.
Using the word “Borne” on the other hand describes the subject carrying something physically or figuratively. Sentence example, “John has borne the burden of not being a supportive brother to his siblings.” The sentence describes the word “Borne” as something John is keeping or enduring for a long time. There is some instance where the word “Borne” is used in a compound word, such as, “The air force troops were airborne to get in the top of the building.” The sentence describes the word “Borne” was compounded from the word “air” to describe it as “carried by air.” There will not be a problem using them even in content writing as long as the meaning of “Born” and “Borne” are understood. “Born” and “Borne” are just a few other misused words that sounded the same but have different types of use in a sentence. It is great for content writing because when a knowledgeable reader learns that a written article provides proper use of words, there is a possibility that the article gets recommended to other readers and becomes a regular visitor.
What does “Born” Mean?
“Born” means to come into existence, or be birthed. It is typically associated with a mother that bears a child then gives birth and then the child was born. “Born”, is a verb with a common past-tense form of “to give birth.” Currently, the word “Born” as an adjective is not always used to associate with the word “Bear. “Born” is used to describe a child being born or describing an event or situation,” for example, “Our friendship was born.” The word “Born” is an English word typically used and interchangeably described “Born” and “Borne.” Using the word “Born” correctly to describe an event helps distinguish or appreciate the description of someone that is described. Using the “Born” word in a sentence does not only pertain to associating it with giving birth or a child’s birth. “Born” is a type of word that can be used in a metaphoric phrase or sentence to describe a situation or event more. Incorrect use of “Born” from “Borne” and “Borne” from “Born” will confuse and escalate the wrong definition and use of the word’s true meaning. Reading articles with the wrong use of words such as “Born and Borne” is going to describe the article provider as not a credible source or justified as irrelevant, especially in content writing.
What are the Sentence Examples with “Born”?
Listed below are the sentence examples with “Born.”
- “My mother was very happy when Casey was born.” The word “Born” was used as a verb to describe Casey being born.
- “My mother was very happy when she saw my first born child.” The word “Born” is used as a compounded word to describe the child’s level or order, which is being the first being born. Compared to the first sentence, the child, or Casey, was not mentioned in its birth order. While in the second sentence, it is clear that the child was the first out of the siblings.
- “He was a born leader.” The word “Born” was used figuratively, not related to being birthed, but describing “He” possessed a natural characteristic or quality as a leader.
- “He was a natural-born leader.” The word “Born” is used as an adjective to elaborate more details about “He” being a leader. Natural-born justifies how instinctively “He,” as a leader.
When to Use the word “Born” in a Sentence?
“Born” and “Borne” are both past participles of the verb “Bear”, which means “Carry.” Both of them sounded the same as well. “Born” mostly refers to a birth or figuratively. For example; “Damon is a born leader”, is used figuratively referring to Damon being meant to be a leader ever since. While, “Dave was born in New York”, stating Dave’s birthplace. Using the word “Born” is not limited to “Birth” or “Bear” only. “Born” is used as an adjective as well, in order to describe more about a noun or another adjective.
“Borne” on the other hand cannot be used in the same context as “Born”, due to its different usage and meaning. Here is an example, “I was borne poor.” The sentence example does not make sense in that case since “Born” meant “Carried.” It is allowed to use both words in some sentences, like, “My teacher said that she was born in the place where mosquito-borne fever virus originated.”
What Born the Synonyms of “Born”?
Synonyms of “born” are “trained”, “developed”, and “cultivated” which describe “born” figuratively while, the other synonyms of “born” are “congenital”, “deliver”, “hereditary”, “inherent, and “inborn” which describe primarily the relations to birth. For example, “The disease runs throughout their family, sadly she was inherent (born) with it.” Another one, “This hospital should be closer to your heart, you were delivered (born) here.” There are a lot of ways to use the word “Born”, in most cases the word “Born” is expressed figuratively as “beginnings”, “start”, and “innate.”
What Born the Antonyms of “Born”?
Antonyms of “Born” are “die”, “perish”, “demise”, and “expire.” The antonym of “Born” describes an end of life or an event. The antonyms are, “unnatural”, “learned”, “educated”, and “disciplined,” in reference to the adjective. The antonyms of “Born” as an adjective are opposite figuratively, too. Comparing other antonyms of “Born”, “die” and “expire” share the same thought, but the “die” is literally used to describe a person’s life. On the other hand, “expire” is commonly used to describe something that just ended, such as perishable goods, food, medicine, and subscriptions.
How to spell “Born”?
Born means to come into existence, and it is spelled as “B-O-R-N”. Oftentimes, “Born” is misspelled as “Bourn” it is similar to “Born” word but with an additional vowel “U” after the “O”. The word “Born” and “Bourn” does not have that relationship. The misspelled word “Bourn” means, a destination, the end goal, the limit, or the boundary. The other misspelled “Born” word is “Borne”, it has an identical first 4 letters but with an additional “E” letter at the end. Unlike the word “Bourn”, the word “Borne” have a relationship with the main word “Born”. Both “Born” and “Borne” are past participle forms of the verb “Bear.”
What are the prepositions and helper words for Born?
The prepositions and helper words for “Born” are “to” or “of”. These are 2 examples to implement in a sentence. “Emily, born of a rich family.” “Emily, born to a rich family.” The word “of” is often used when creating a general observation about someone. The word “to” on the other hand is used to provide more detail or information. The term “of” usually refers to a connection or belonging to something in general. The word “to” typically means a direction. Sometimes it just depends on the words and discovering which one is correct in order to make sure that it works for you.
What does “Borne” Mean?
“Borne” is a verb, a past participle form of the word “Bear”. The word “Borne” refers to bearing or carrying something. “Borne” is typically used as an adjective and expressed figuratively. In addition, “Borne” is associated with and used for compounded words like “airborne” (carried through by air), “waterborne” (carried through by water), and “blood-borne” (transmission through the blood). The term “Borne” originates from the word, “Boren” the past participle of “Beran” which means “bearing” or “carrying”, in old English. There are cases where “Borne” be used with birth connotations as an exception for referring to the mother giving birth. However, it is done by describing the mother carrying the child and giving birth as well. An example sentence to use “Borne” in birth connotation is, “She had borne three kids before Marsha.” The word “Borne” in the sentence describes the mother who had already become pregnant with three children before bearing the other child named Marsha.
What are the Sentence Examples with “Borne”?
The word “Borne” is used to describe an action that means “carried”, “held”, or “endure.” These are the 4 example sentences for the word “Borne.” “He was a born hero.” “Laura has acquired a blood-borne disease because of getting tattooed at an unknown tattoo shop.” “Bruno is a natural-born singer.” “Flu is an airborne disease.” There is an exception and a way to use “Borne” to describe or be used to define birth. “My mother had borne 2 children before I was born.” The word “Borne” was used possibly, but the verb describes the mother instead of the child, on top of that, both “Borne” and “Born” were used in the sentence.
When to Use the Word “Borne” in a sentence?
The word “Borne” is used in a sentence to refer to something that is carried, something held, or endured for a long time. “Borne” is used in a compound word like, “airborne”, “waterborne”, or “mosquito-borne” describing something that is carried by the substance or element. Writing with the verb “Borne” the subject does not need to be associated with giving birth or being born. Else, the word “Borne” is more figurative than physical in the sentence. “Borne” is not often used in describing someone’s birth or giving birth unlike the word “Born”, when used in a sentence it describes mostly the mother that gave birth to a child. Though figuratively, “Born” mean, the start, since the beginning, or a new beginning. Both “Born” and “Borne” doesn’t get an adverb, but they are used as an adjective in a sentence. “Her boyfriend is a French-born athlete.” “Charmaine was a born singer.” Some example sentences for the word “borne” are. “Sore eyes or Red eyes is a type of airborne disease.” “Dengue is a mosquito-borne virus that is deadly.” It is possible to use both “Born” and “Borne” in a single sentence. “Mr. Wilson was born in a town where mosquito-borne flu virus became an epidemic.”
What Born the Synonyms of “Borne”?
The synonyms of “Borne” are, “carried”, “sustained”, and “endured.” These are 2 example sentences with corresponding synonyms of the word “Borne.” “Malaria is a type of disease carried by a mosquito (mosquito-borne).” “HIV can only be transmitted by blood because the virus is carried through blood (blood-borne).” The other variation of the word “Borne” is “Beared”. “Borne” replaced the extinct word “Beared” to distinguish “Born” as referring to birth and “Borne” as referring to bearing a child.
What Born the Antonyms of “Borne”?
The antonyms of the word “Borne” are “unsupported”, “ignored”, and “disregard.” These antonyms of “Borne” are described as no specific action taken, or no intervention was made. Because it is opposite to the word “Borne” which means “carried”, “supported”, and “endured.” Some synonyms have reverse equivalent words such as “Regard” the opposite word “Disregard” and the other “Supported” the antonym of it is “Unsupported”, to distinguish them from each other.
How to Spell “Borne”?
The word “Borne” is spelled as B-O-R-N-E, it is just like the spelling of “Born” with an “E” letter at the end. The “Borne” word is closely associated with the word “Bourne” or misspelled. “Borne” and “Bourne” does not share the same meaning. The word “Borne” describes something being carried, “Bourne” on the other hand describes boundary, limit, goal, or destination. “Bourne” word as well can be spelled as B-O-U-R-N without the letter “E” but still have the same thought, unlike “Born” and “Borne” that has their own meaning when used in the sentence.
What Born the prepositions and helper words for Borne?
The prepositions and helper words for “Borne” are, “on,” “with” and “by.” These are 3 sentence examples with prepositions and helpers for the word “Borne.” “It’s been a long time since he moved away and borne with the fault for almost 3 years.” “The boy saw a stray puppy and was borne on the arm as the puppy fell asleep.” “The fuel price was borne by the car owners.” The word “on” and “by” is used to refer to dates, days, months, years, and named days, while “with” is used to refer to what to use, to do something.
Comparison between “Born” and “Borne”
Comparing the terms according to the definition, context, lemmatization, stemming (forms), and example sentences are helpful to better understand the difference between “Born” and “Borne”. The word “Born” means differently from the word “Borne.” Thus, the two words and used accordingly based on what context the words are suitable and fit. Sentences are used as provided in the comparison for a clearer understanding. Below is a table comparing “Born” and “Borne” according to the terms’ definitions, context, and forms.
| “Born” and “Borne” Difference | Born | Borne |
| Definition | “Born” is used when you’re referring to birth, whether literally (to childbirth) or figuratively. | “Borne” is used in all other cases, when you’re just referring to bearing (carrying) something. It’s the spelling used in compound words like “airborne” |
| Context | Used in the context “giving birth.” Also, in the context of describing the offspring or origin. | Used in the context to describe being carried, enduring, or burden. |
| Lemmatization and Stemming (Forms) | Bear, born, bearing | Bear, borne, bearing |
| Example sentences | I was not born yesterday.
I was a born leader. My mother was happy to see my firstborn child. |
He is borne with determination.
She is not alright, born suffering when her dog died. Most viruses are airborne diseases. |
Why are “Born” and “Borne” misused and interchangeably in English?
“Born” and “Borne” are interchangeable and misused English terms because they are both past participles of the word “Bear.” Most sentence constructors misused such terms or defined them differently in meaning by a non-writer. “Born” and “Borne” are homophones, which is why many have misused them in their daily usage and even in their work. The spelling is tricky because the first 4 letters are the same, the only distinguishable part is the last letter, which is the letter “E” on the word “Borne.” Most people put articles that are not checked or sometimes are placed into a forum as a subject but have mistakenly provided the wrong word to use. It is easy with today’s technology to determine whether the grammar of unpublished content is ready to go or needs revision. Most written content undergoes proofreading and copyright before being published.
Are “Born” and “Borne” in the most commonly misused English words?
Yes, “Born” and “Borne” is commonly misused English words. However, because of the new technologies in the software provided for content writing it is somehow misusing “Born” and “Borne” is prevented. There is a possibility that the thought interchangeably is used because the word “Born” and “Borne” are homophones. Especially for those who are non-native English speakers or writers, there is a chance that the word “Born” be used instead of “Borne” and vice versa. Good thing the world now has advanced technology-provided helpers that efficiently correct grammar and spelling. It is not a hundred percent the solution, but preventing misusing the word “Born” to “Borne” is a lot, especially for content writing. These misused English words are tricky because they are closely related to each other in meaning and other forms, but defining them individually is not that complicated to learn.
What are the other similar Misused Word Pairs like “Borne” and “Born” in English?
Aside from “Borne” and “Born,” there are a lot more English word pairs that are misused. Most of the pairs are homonyms, or words that sound alike but mean differently. The words are misused because the pair sounds alike and sometimes are spelled similarly. The best way to correctly use the words and avoid confusion is to understand the meaning and the context in which a word can be used. Below is a list of other misused word pairs, like “Borne” and “Born” in English.
- Are and Our: The words “Are and Our” are similar misused word pairs in English like “borne” and “born.” The pronunciation of “are” and “our” is very identical the same to “born” and “borne” because these are homonyms. However, the spelling and meaning are entirely different. “Are” and “our” use different letters except for “r” which is placed distinctly. “Are” is a plural linking verb, while “our” expresses ownership and belonging.
- Accept and Except: “Accept and Except” The English terms “accept” and “except” are commonly interchanged similar to “born” and “borne.” “Accept” and “except” most likely sound the same when read verbally. On top of that, their spelling only varies in “ac” and “ex” in the first half, and both contain “cept” as the end part. The definition of “accept” is “consent to receive,” while “except” is defined as “not including” or “not other than.”
- “Loose” and “Lose”: “Loose” and “lose” are two words that are often confused. The same as “born” and “borne,” the words “loose” and “lose” have an additional letter which is “o.” Apart from that, “loose” and “lose” are pronounced in the same manner, but the first word is associated with the sound “s” and the second word is “z.” Furthermore, “loose” means a lack to have a tight or strong grip, whereas “lose” means not being able to possess.
- “To” and “Too”: “To” and “Too” “To” and “too” are frequently interchanged words in English, just like “born” and “borne.” The words “to,” “too,” “born,” and “borne” are varying with added letters, namely “o” and “e.” On the contrary, “to” and “too” are completely similar when talking about their pronunciation. “To” is a preposition that indicates direction. Meanwhile, “too” means on a higher level than what is suitable.
- “Canvass” and “Canvas”: The “canvass” and “canvas” are among the most misinterpreted words. “Canvass” has an extra consonant “s” when compared to “canvas” which is identical to the vowel “e” of “borne” and “born.” There are no distinguishing characteristics in terms of pronouncing the words “canvass” and “canvas” because they are homonyms. “Canvass” has the definition of “an act of soliciting votes.” On the other hand, “canvas” means “a strong, coarse unbleached cloth made from hemp, flax, cotton, or a similar yarn, utilized to create things like sails and tents and as a platform for painting using oil.”
How do Content Writers use “Born” and “Borne” in their articles?
Content writers use “Born” and “Borne” in their articles, though there are slight differences between them. The verb needed to be used is “Born”, if the sentence needs to emphasize an offspring or needs to bring up a subject of birth. Thus, must be applied in a passive sentence manner. For example, “He was born in Boston.” “No child has been born on that island in the last two years because of the diseases that break out.” Meanwhile, using the word “Borne” in content writing is not to describe physical birth, else it is primarily used to mean “carried.” For example, “Teachers have borne the burden for the children’s learning.” “COVID-19 is an airborne disease.”
Are born and borne homophones?
Yes, “Born” and “Borne” are homophones, they sound alike but are not the same in meaning in a sentence. Homophones are words that sounded the same but have different meanings. “Born” and “Borne” are pronounced as (bôrn) though they are related because of the past participle “Bear”, but both of them describe differently in a sentence. “Born” primarily is used to describe the birth and new beginnings, while “Borne” however, defines something that is “carried” or “endured”.
Do Content Writers use “Born” and “Borne” in a wrong way?
Yes, content writers do use “Born” and “Borne” in the wrong way. However, today’s technology is more advanced and intuitive. There are many software helpers that assist writers to determine the proper use of words and grammar. Most of the articles that are not published undergo proofreading and revisions. The finished articles have some incorrect words, but 99% of the articles written are filtered and checked. The word “Born” and “Borne” are sometimes interchange, but developer tools such as plug-ins detects the inconsistent word used. It is helpful for providing excellent and accurate content, and it is the best SEO practice to reach the goal of getting a good amount of traffic for the website.
Do Misused Words such as “Borne” and “Born” Affect SEO and UX?
Yes, misused words such as “Borne” and “Born” affect SEO and UX. However, “Borne” and “Born” share the form “Bear.” SEO was still young in the late 90s, it was like everything goes whatever because the rules and policies of search engines were not that complex when it came to ranking webpages. Right now, the algorithms of Google and most search engines learn and improving their ranking formula. The search engine has an AI program that learns grammar, spelling, and definition of each website’s content, in regard to how it impacts SEO and UX. The AI knows that there is an irrelevant word because according to its library, the specific words belong to or match the past crawled pages that are not relevant. Therefore, it definitely affects the SEO and the user experience.
- Author
- Recent Posts
Holistic SEO & Digital has been built by Koray Tuğberk GÜBÜR. Holistic SEO is the process of developing integrated digital marketing projects with every aspect including Coding, Natural Language Processing, Data Science, Page Speed, Digital Analytics, Content Marketing, Technical SEO, and Branding. Structured, Semantic Search Engine improves its ability to detect the real-world entities, today. Having a simple website is not enough anymore. To show that your brand is authoritative, trustworthy, and expert on its own niche, you need entity-based Search Engine Optimization Projects. Holistic SEO & Digital’s main focus is on improving the brand’s organic visibility and growth potential.
The English language has many homophones, or words that sound alike but mean different things.
Born and borne are homophones, but they are unique in that they actually function as the same part of speech—they are actually the same tense of the same verb. Their usage, however, is determined primarily by context.
Continue reading to find out whether you should choose borne or born in your own writing.
In this article, I will compare borne vs. born. I will use each word in a sentence to demonstrate its proper context.
Plus, I will show you a helpful mnemonic to use in situations when you can’t remember whether born or borne is the word you should choose.
When to Use Borne
What does borne mean? Borne is the past participle of the verb bear, and is thus used with a helping verb. It is a versatile word that can be used as a synonym for carried, suffered, kept, and sometimes given birth.
For example,
- Gamete had borne the Elven sword Telomere hither and yon across the kingdom of Fallopia.
- Gwyneth had borne a son during the war, and the boy survived a dangerous childhood.
- If borne out, that forecast would indicate this year’s plunging freight rates and shrinking profits for marine carriers will only grow worse, particularly on major trade lanes across the Pacific and between Asia and Europe. –The Wall Street Journal
When to Use Born
What does born mean? Born is also a past participle of the same verb, bear, but has a more restricted meaning. In modern English, born is limited to one common use.
It is used in the passive, without the word by, as the standard way to refer to given birth, especially in the verb phrase was born. Born is also used as an adjective, where it describes a person’s origins.
For example,
- The regime under Pinochet did not keep detailed or accurate records, but as far as we can tell, the man was born in Chile in the early 1980s.
- Cornelia is a homegrown Iowan, born and bred.
- The boy was born under a bad sign, and showed unnatural abilities and an otherworldly temper from an early age.
- Using records of a large health maintenance organization, researchers tracked 260,556 infants born from January 1997 through the end of March 2013. –The New York Times
Trick to Remember the Difference
Here is a helpful trick to remember born vs. borne.
Both of these words are used as the past participle of the verb bear. Borne is the general-use form, with born being standard in contexts involving childbirth, and as an adjective to refer to a person’s origin.
These words can be confusing, but if you remember that the word childbirth is spelled without an E, you should be able to remember to use born for these situations, since born is also spelled without that letter.
Summary
Is it born or borne? Born and borne are alternative spellings of the same word, which is the past participle form of the verb bear. Even though, as verbs, they function the same in a sentence, they are used in different contexts.
- Born refers to childbirth.
- Borne is used in all other contexts.
Born can also be used as an adjective to describe a person’s origin.
Keep in mind that neither childbirth nor born is spelled with an E. You should only use born when you are referring to the birth of a child, or a place where a person was born.
To summarize, born refers to childbirth, and borne is used in reference to carrying something.
Contents
- 1 Borne vs Born: What’s the Difference?
- 2 When to Use Borne
- 3 When to Use Born
- 4 Trick to Remember the Difference
- 5 Summary
Matt Damon famously starred in the Bourne films, including The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, and the prosaically named Jason Bourne. But so far he has refused to appear in our proposed proofreading action movie, The Born/Borne Controversy.
(Image: nicolas genin/wikimedia)
In our script, a heroic grammarian travels the world getting into a series of implausible rooftop chases filmed in shaky cam. His aim is to capture a terrible villain who insists on mixing up the words ‘born’ and ‘borne’, despite knowing full well that this is incorrect.
But until Matt Damon signs on and we get the green light to start filming, you’ll have to make do with this slightly more low-budget explanation of how these words should be used.
Born (Birthed)
The more common of these words is ‘born’, which means ‘existing as a result of birth’. This is generally an adjective used to say something about someone’s birth:
A born long-distance runner, Mo Farah has competed at three Olympic Games.
(Image: Tab59/wikimedia)
‘Born’ is also used figuratively to describe the origins of an idea or project.
In addition, sometimes ‘born’ can be used as the past participle of ‘bear’ in the sense of ‘give birth to’, especially when using the passive voice:
Vlad was born on a dark and stormy night.
Here, ‘Vlad’ is the object of the verb ‘bear’, so we are using the passive voice. And since the sentence refers to something that has already happened, we use the past participle ‘born’.
Borne (Carried)
‘Borne’ is the main past participle of ‘bear’. This includes when ‘bear’ is used to mean ‘give birth to’ and the sentence is in the active voice:
Sheila has borne a son.
Here, ‘borne’ refers to the action of the subject (‘Sheila’), so it is in the active voice and we need to use the word ‘borne’. But this is quite a rare usage.
Find this useful?
Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.
Typically, ‘borne’ refers to ‘bear’ in the more general sense of ‘carry’, ‘support’ or ‘withstand’. So we would use ‘borne’ when describing someone that has undergone something:
With the team losing so many games, the fans have borne great hardship this season.
Or when describing something that has been carried or supported:
After scoring the winning goal, Eric was borne aloft by his teammates as they celebrated.
In most situations, it will be this sense of ‘borne’ you encounter.
Born or Borne?
The confusion arises because both words can be used as the past participle of ‘bear’, although only in relation to birth in the case of ‘born’.
But this makes it easy to remember which is which: if you’re discussing something related to birth, you’ll typically need ‘born’. The one exception is when using a past participle with the active voice, but this is fairly unusual.
Generally, ‘borne’ is used as a past participle of ‘bear’ meaning ‘carry’. So if you’re talking about someone having carried or supported something, the word to use is ‘borne’. Remember:
Born = Existing as a result of birth
Borne = Having carried or supported