Suffix · forms adjectives
Forms adjectives about birth: firstborn, newborn, foreign-born (born in another country). Also common in fantasy/historical novels for social class: highborn (noble birth), lowborn (humble birth).
Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated
-born describes someone's condition of birth: firstborn, newborn, stillborn (born dead, or figuratively: something that fails before it starts, "the plan was stillborn"). With a hyphen, it describes place of birth: foreign-born, American-born, London-born, native-born. This use is very common today (news, census data, biographies).
highborn (noble birth), lowborn (humble birth) and wellborn (good family) show up a lot in historical and fantasy novels to describe a character's social origin. Easy to recognize while reading, but you will not use them in everyday conversation.
Adverb/adjective + born, or place + born (hyphenated).
-born/bɔːrn/ · rhymes with corn
Tap the button to hear how the ending sounds. Each word in the table has its own audio.
"the firstborn son" only indicates birth order, not affection or preference.
"a stillborn peace process" = a peace process that never got off the ground. Very common in news writing.
You'll recognize them in historical and epic fantasy novels, describing a character's social origin.
A trick to remember it
"Born" = born, literal, no trick. High-BORN = born at the top (of society), low-BORN = born at the bottom. For foreign-born/American-born, picture filling out the "place of birth" field on a form: that is exactly what the word says.
Exercise 1 · Form the word
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
What does "a stillborn initiative" mean?
Exercise 3 · Pick the right one
"Foreign-born" describes someone...
The suffix -born forms adjectives about birth: firstborn, newborn, foreign-born (born in another country). Also common in fantasy/historical novels for social class: highborn (noble birth), lowborn (humble birth). In Spanish it usually maps to -nacido / de cuna.
The ending -born is pronounced /bɔːrn/ · rhymes with corn. For example, "firstborn".
"first" becomes "firstborn". It is a typical example of the -born suffix.
From Germanic "-hard" (persistently excessive): forms pejorative nouns for a person who takes a negative trait to excess. Drunkard, braggart, dullard, dotard, laggard.
Names a state, condition or domain: free becomes freedom.
From Old English "-ling": forms diminutives of young creatures, small beings or subordinate persons. Duckling, fledgling, sibling, underling, changeling.
-tion, -ness, -ful, -ly, -able... every ending you need to understand thousands of words at once.