being

English

Alternative forms

• beeing (archaic)
• beïng (rare)

Etymology

Originated 1250–1300 from Middle English being; see be + -ing.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbiːɪŋ/, /ˈbiːŋ/

  • Audio (London):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbiɪŋ/, /ˈbiŋ/ [ˈbɪjɪŋ]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈbiːɪn(ɡ)/
• Rhymes: -iːɪŋ, -ɪŋ
• Hyphenation: be‧ing

Verb

being

1. present participle and gerund of be

Noun

being (countable and uncountable, plural beings)

1. A living creature.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “The Plain of Kôr”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 126:

     Minute grew into minute, and still there was no sign of life, nor did the curtain move; but I felt the gaze of the unknown being sinking through and through me, and filling me with a nameless terror, till the perspiration stood in beads upon my brow.

2. The state or fact of existence, consciousness, or life, or something in such a state.
   • 1608-1634, John Webster (and perhaps Thomas Heywood), Appius and Virginia

     Claudius, thou / Wast follower of his fortunes in his being.

   • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:

     For the service to be considered was not the service of one servant, but of two servants, and even of three servants, and even of an infinity of servants, of whom the first could not out till the second up, nor the second up till the third in, nor the third in till the first out, nor the first out till the third in, nor the third in till the second up, nor the second up till the first out, every going, every being, every coming consisting with a being and a coming, a coming and a going, a going and a being, nay with all the beings and all the comings, with all the comings and all the goings, with all the goings and all the beings, of all the servants that had ever served Mr. Knott, of all the servants that ever would serve Mr. Knott.

   • 2019 November 12, Gal Koplewitz, “Amos Oz and the Politics of the Hebrew Language”, in The New Yorker‎:

     The written word, he often argued, could only ever be a low-fidelity reproduction of the fullness of being; any text was ultimately humbled by the reality that it sought to represent.

3. (philosophy) That which has actuality (materially or in concept).
4. (philosophy) One's basic nature, or the qualities thereof; essence or personality.
5. (obsolete) An abode; a cottage.
   • 1712 December 5 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “MONDAY, November 24, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 544; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     It was a relief to dismiss them [Sir Roger's servants] into little beings within my manor.

     The spelling has been modernized.

Synonyms

• (a living creature): See also Thesaurus:creature
• (the state or fact of existence): See also Thesaurus:existence

Derived terms

• beinghood
• beingless
• beingly
• beingness
• come into being
• cyberbeing
• fleet in being
• for the time being
• gentlebeing
• higher being
• human being
• illbeing
• ill-being
• inbeing
• interbeing
• inter-being
• no-being
• nonbeing
• state of being
• superbeing
• supreme being
• time being
• unbeing
• well-being
• werebeing
• with every fiber of one's being
• with every fibre of one's being
• with every ounce of one's being

Translations

a living creature

Afrikaans: wese (af) Albanian : Qënie (sq) Arabic: كَائِن (ar) m (kāʔin), مَخْلُوق (ar) m (maḵlūq) Armenian: էակ (hy) (ēak) Aromanian: hiintsã f, yeatsã f Azerbaijani: məxluq (az) Belarusian: істо́та f (istóta), стварэ́нне n (stvarénnje) Bulgarian: същество́ (bg) n (sǎštestvó), създа́ние (bg) n (sǎzdánie), твар (bg) f (tvar) Catalan: ésser (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 生物 (zh) (shēngwù) Czech: bytost (cs) f, tvor (cs) m, stvoření (cs) n Danish: væsen (da) Dutch: wezen (nl) n Esperanto: estaĵo, estulo Estonian: olend Finnish: olento (fi) French: être (fr) m, créature (fr) f Georgian: არსება (arseba) German: Wesen (de) n, Geschöpf (de) n Greek: ον (el) n (on), πλάσμα (el) n (plásma) Hebrew: בריה (he), יצור (he) Hungarian: lény (hu) Icelandic: vera (is) Indonesian: makhluk (id) Irish: neach m, dúil f Italian: essere (it) m, creatura (it) Japanese: 生き物 (ja) (いきもの, ikimono), 生物 (ja) (せいぶつ, seibutsu) Khmer: ភាវៈរស់ (phea veak ros), ជន (km) (cɔɔn) Korean: 생명체 (ko) (saengmyeongche) Latin: creatura (la) f, ens (la) n, animatum n, animate n, res (la) f, natura f Latvian: būtne (lv), radījums (lv) Lithuanian: būtybė Livonian: lejā Macedonian: суштество n (suštestvo) Manchu: ᡝᡵᡤᡝᠩᡤᡝ (ergengge) Maore Comorian: shiumbe class 7/8 Mongolian: ᠠᠮᠢᠲᠠᠨ (amitan) Cyrillic: амьтан (mn) (amʹtan) Norwegian: vesen Polish: stwór (pl) m, istota (pl) f Portuguese: ser (pt) m, criatura (pt) f Romanian: ființă (ro), creatură (ro), făptură (ro) Russian: (живо́е) существо́ n ((živóje) suščestvó), тварь (ru) f (tvarʹ), созда́ние (ru) n (sozdánije), (archaic) творе́ние (ru) n (tvorénije) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: биће n, створ m, створење n Roman: biće (sh) n, stvor (sh) m, stvorenje (sh) n Slovak: tvor m, stvorenie n, bytosť Slovene: bitje (sl) n, stvor m Spanish: ser (es) m, criatura (es) f, ente (es) m Swedish: varelse (sv) c, väsen (sv) Turkish: yaratık (tr) Ukrainian: істо́та (uk) f (istóta), створі́ння n (stvorínnja), су́тність f (sútnistʹ), твари́на (uk) f (tvarýna), тварь f (tvarʹ) Venetan: èsare Vietnamese: sinh vật (vi) (生物 (vi)) Volapük: (♂♀) jafäb (vo), (♂) hijafäb, (♀) jijafäb Zazaki: conawır

the state or fact of existence

Arabic: كَيْنُونَة f (kaynūna), كَوْن (kawn) Armenian: գոյություն (hy) (goyutʻyun) Azerbaijani: varlıq (az) Bashkir: барлыҡ (barlıq), йәшәйеш (yəşəyeş) (philosophical) Belarusian: існава́нне n (isnavánnje), быццё n (byccjó) Bulgarian: съществу́ване (bg) n (sǎštestvúvane), битие (bg) n (bitie) Catalan: ésser (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 存在 (zh) (cúnzài) Czech: existence (cs), život (cs), bytí (cs) n Danish: opstå Dutch: bestaan (nl) n Esperanto: esto (eo) Estonian: olemasolu Finnish: olemassaolo (fi) French: existence (fr), être (fr) m German: Sein (de) n, Dasein (de) n Gothic: 𐍅𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃 f (wists) Greek: ύπαρξη (el) f (ýparxi) Hebrew: ישות (he) (yeshut) Hungarian: lét(ezés) (hu) Icelandic: tilvera (is) Indonesian: keberadaan (id), ada (id) Irish: beith f Italian: esistenza (it) Japanese: 存在 (ja) (そんざい, sonzai) Kazakh: болмыс (bolmys) Korean: 존재(存在) (ko) (jonjae) Latin: vita (la) f, ortus m, caput (la) n, salus (la), salus (la) f, natura f, vis (la) f, essentia f Latvian: eksistence, esamība (lv) Lithuanian: egzistavimas Macedonian: битие n (bitie), постоење n (postoenje) Manx: beays m Maori: kaiaotanga, tauoranga Mari: Eastern Mari: вуй (vuj) Mongolian: ᠠᠬᠤᠢ (aqui), ᠣᠷᠣᠰᠢᠬᠤᠢ (orosiqui) Cyrillic: ахуй (mn) (axuj), оршихуй (oršixuj) Norwegian: tilværelse (no), det å være, bli til Persian: وجود (fa) (vojud), بوش (fa) (boveš), هستی (fa) (hasti) Polish: istnienie (pl), bycie (pl) n, byt (pl) m Portuguese: existência (pt) f Romanian: existență (ro), naștere (ro), ființă (ro) Russian: существова́ние (ru) n (suščestvovánije), бытие́ (ru) n (bytijé) (philosophical, poetical) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: биће n Roman: biće (sh) n Slovak: vznik (sk), bytosť f, bytie (sk) n Slovene: bivanje n, obstajanje n, bitje (sl) n Spanish: existencia (es) f Swedish: tillvaro (sv), existens (sv) Tagalog: kamagingan Thai: สัต (th) (sàt), ภาวะ (th) (paa-wá) Turkish: varlık (tr) Ukrainian: існува́ння (uk) n (isnuvánnja), буття́ (uk) n (buttjá) Volapük: dabin (vo) Zazaki: estek ǃXóõ: ǃnáã

basic nature

Esperanto: esteco

Conjunction

being

1. Given that; since.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , New York Review Books 2001, p.280:

     ’Tis a hard matter therefore to confine them, being they are so various and many […].

Synonyms

• as, because, seeing that; see also Thesaurus:because

Derived terms

• being that

Translations

Translations

Bulgarian: би́дейки (bídejki), French: étant donné que (fr) Macedonian: бидејќи (bidejḱi)

See also

• am
• are
• art
• be
• been
• beest
• is
• was
• wast
• were
• wert

References

• “being”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “being”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "being" in the Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary (Beta Version), K Dictionaries limited, 2000-2006.
• "being" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.

Anagrams

• Bengi, begin, binge

Scottish Gaelic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peiŋʲkʲ/

Noun

being f (dative singular being or beingidh, genitive singular beinge, plural beingean)

1. bench, form

Declension

Declension of being (class IIb feminine noun)

indefinite
	singular	plural
nominative	being	beingean
genitive	beinge	bheingean
dative	being	beingean; beingibh✝
definite
	singular	plural
nominative	(a') bheing	(na) beingean
genitive	(na) beinge	(nam) beingean
dative	(a') bheing	(na) beingean; beingibh✝
vocative	bheing	bheingean

^✝ obsolete form, used until the 19th century

• Alternative dative singular: beingidh (Uist, Barra)
• Alternative genitive singular: beingeadh (Uist, Barra)