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'Born' relates to coming into existence at birth; 'borne' is the past participle of 'bear' meaning to carry or endure.
Side-by-side comparison
"Born" is used to refer to birth: "She was born in 1990". It is only used in the passive voice with the meaning of coming into the world.
She was born in Buenos Aires in 1990.
He is a born entrepreneur, he started his first business at sixteen.
Necessity is the mother of invention, great ideas are born from problems.
"Borne" is the past participle of "bear" in all other senses: to carry, to endure, to produce. "The tree has borne fruit" = the tree has produced fruit.
The disease is water-borne and spreads rapidly in contaminated rivers.
The costs have been borne entirely by the company.
She has borne the responsibility for the whole team.
Common mistake
- •"The costs have been born by the client" is wrong: the past participle of "bear" (to carry, to endure) is "borne".
- •"Born" is only for the act of being born or natural talent ("a born leader").
Trick to remember it
- •"Born" = simple, four letters, for being born or natural talent.
- •"Borne" = with an extra E, as if carrying something more, because it always involves carrying or enduring.
Quick rule
- •"Born" = to be born or natural talent.
- •"Borne" = past participle of carry, endure, or transmit ("disease-borne", "borne out by the evidence").
Did you know?
Compound words ending in "-borne" are common in medicine: airborne, waterborne, foodborne, vector-borne. All describe how a disease is transmitted, all from "borne" as the past participle of "bear" (to carry). On the other side, "born-again" (spiritually reborn) and "born-and-bred" (raised from birth in a place) come from "born" (birth). Two very different compound families from two very similar words.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
She was _____ in a small village in the south of Spain.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
The cost of the repairs was _____ by the insurance company.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
'Bare' means uncovered or minimal; 'bear' is the large animal or means to carry and endure.
One means to receive or agree to something, the other means to exclude or not include.
'Advice' is the guidance you receive (noun); 'advise' is the act of giving that guidance (verb).
'Affect' is the verb meaning to influence something; 'effect' is the noun meaning result or consequence.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy