become

A compound of the sources of be- +‎ come. From Middle English becomen, bicumen, from Old English becuman (“to come (to), approach, arrive, enter, meet with, fall in with; happen, befall; befit”), from Proto-Germanic *bikwemaną (“to come around, come about, come across, come by”), equivalent to be- (“about, around”) +‎ come. Cognate with Scots becum (“to come, arrive, reach a destination”), North Frisian bekommen, bykommen (“to come by, obtain, receive”), West Frisian bikomme (“to come by, obtain, receive”), Dutch bekomen (“to come by, obtain, receive”), German bekommen (“to get, receive, obtain”), Swedish bekomma (“to receive, concern”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (biqiman, “to come upon one, befall”). Sense of "befit, suit" due to influence from Middle English cweme, icweme, see queem.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɪˈkʌm/, /bəˈkʌm/

  (Northern England) IPA^(key): /bɪˈkʊm/, /bəˈkʊm/

• (US) IPA^(key): /bɪˈkʌm/, /biˈkʌm/, /bəˈkʌm/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌm
• Hyphenation: be‧come

become (third-person singular simple present becomes, present participle becoming, simple past became, past participle become or (rare, dialectal) becomen)

1. (copulative) begin to be; turn into. [from 12th c.]

   Synonyms: get, turn, go

   She became a doctor when she was 25.

   The weather will become cold after the sun goes down.

   The sense ‘state or process of bearing fruit’ has become imposed on fruition as the 20c. proceeded.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.

   • 2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:

     Then, as the Sunderland fans' cheers bellowed around the stadium, United's title bid was over when it became apparent City had pinched a last-gasp winner to seal their first title in 44 years.

   • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7:

     Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.

2. (intransitive, archaic outside become of) To come about; happen; come into being; arise. [from 12th c.]

   What became of him after he was let go?

   It hath becomen so that many a man had to sterve.

   • 1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the Gods‎, London: William Heineman, →OCLC, page 3:

     And Time went forth into the worlds to obey the commands of the gods, yet he cast furtive glances at his masters, and the gods distrusted Time because he had known the worlds or ever the gods became.

3. (transitive) To be proper for; to beseem. [from 13th c.]
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Ay, lord, she will become thy bed, I warrant,
     And bring thee forth brave brood.

   • 1892, Ambrose Bierce, “The Applicant,” in The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume II: In the Midst of Life (Tales of Soldiers and Civilians), New York: Gordian Press, 1966,

     He was hatted, booted, overcoated, and umbrellaed, as became a person who was about to expose himself to the night and the storm on an errand of charity […]

   • 1930, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, published 2010, page 7:

     His ordination […] enabled him to be independent of his parents, and to afford a manner of living which became his rank rather than his calling.

4. (transitive) Of an adornment, piece of clothing etc.: to look attractive on (someone). [from 14th c.]

   That dress really becomes you.

5. (intransitive, obsolete) To arrive, come (to a place). [9th–18th c.]
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter II, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVIII:

     & thenne the noble knyghte sire Launcelot departed with ryghte heuy chere sodenly / that none erthely creature wyste of hym / nor where he was become / but sir Bors

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:

     But, madam, where is Warwick then become?

• In Early Modern English, the second-person informal singular indicative verb forms used with thou were becomest in the present and becamest in the past tenses. Similarly, becometh was used as a third-person singular indicative present form.
• Also in Early Modern English, to become (and some other intransitive verbs like to come and to go) used the auxiliary be rather than have for perfect aspect constructions. In current usage, to have is standard.

  1965, the original text in Sanskrit and his own translation, in The Decision to Drop the Bomb‎, spoken by Interviewee (J. Robert Oppenheimer), PeriscopeFilm:

  कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो / लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः ।

  kāloʼsmi lokakṣayakṛtpravṛddho / lokānsamāhartumiha pravṛttaḥ.

  Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds

• These forms and uses persisted into Modern English in a few archaic, dialectal, poetic, etc. contexts.

• (to be suitable for): befit, suit

• “become”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “become”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• The Dictionary of the Scots Language
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “become”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.