Confusing Words: Born (verb) and Borne (verb)
Meaning:
Born (come into existence as a result of birth.)
Borne (to contain” or “to give birth to)
Born vs Borne Clarification: Born and borne are the two different spellings of the same word that can be used as the past tense and past participle of bear, which means to hold on to something or to give birth.
Born vs Borne – What is the Difference, Definition & Meaning?
As you can see that born and borne are just one-letter apart but their pronunciation is same. In this post, I will reveal the differences between born and borne. Moreover, I will define these terms and use them in example sentences.
First of all, I will define the verb ‘bear’ because born or borne is used as the past participle of bear.
Bear means to tolerate something terrible; to hold something; to give birth; OR to produce fruit, flower or plants.
1. I can’t bear this kind of awful attitude in my class.
2. I hope that the tree will bear fruits in the coming season.
Born or Borne
Born and borne are the two different spellings of the same word that can be used as the past tense and past participle of bear. However, both need different contexts to be used in. In the light of past tense, born is used when it is, only, related to birth whereas, borne is not restricted as it is, mostly, used to refer to hold, to tolerate, to produce or to give birth .
1. I had already borne his sad stories.
2. His brother was born in Istanbul when the whole city was covered with snow.
3. The boy, who has not yet been named, was born with polymelia — a rare congenital birth defect that results in extra limbs or organs, which are usually deformed. (CNN)
4. China and Mexico have borne the brunt of his early threats, he now has a prime opportunity to box out some of Europe’s most famous exports. (POLITICO.eu)
Check Out: Difference Between Bear and Bare.
Correct Way to Use Born and Borne
Note the above example sentences. Remember to use borne with helping or auxiliary verbs. On the other hand, if you are referring to someone’s birth date or place, remember to use was or were with born.
There are other phrases like Australian-born person, Canadian-born person, water-borne diseases, mosquito-born viruses etc.
In water-borne diseases and mosquito-borne viruses, borne has been used to mean ‘carried by’ (i.e. the diseases are carried by water and viruses are carried by mosquito).
In Australian-born person and Canadian-born person, born is used to refer the place of birth of that person.
1. Last week witnessed a significant spike in cases of water-borne diseases in the city. (Times of India)
2. Australian-born acoustic guitar player travels the world to play his way to fame. (Virginian-Pilot)
What Did You Learn?
Born and borne are the two different spellings of the same word, that is used as the past tense of the verb ‘bear’. However, you need to be careful about the contexts because both of these words are used in different contexts.
Born is used when it is related to childbirth. On the other hand, borne is used in all other senses like to carry or to tolerate, except childbirth.