Because

How to spell because

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce because

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does because mean?

1. conjunctionFor the reason that; used to introduce the cause or explanation of something.

Because in a sentence

• I'm late because the bus was delayed.

• I'm happy because the sun is out.

Where does because come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word began life in Middle English as the two-word phrase 'bi cause', literally 'by cause', meaning 'by reason of'. The second element 'cause' came into English through Old French from the Latin causa, which meant a reason, motive, or legal case. Over the 1300s the phrase was often expanded to 'by cause that' and eventually fused into the single word we use today. The fusion is exactly why learners drop a letter: the spelling preserves the whole word 'cause' intact, so 'because' is simply 'be' plus 'cause', never 'becuase' or 'becouse'. The same Latin causa still sits visibly inside 'cause', 'accuse', and 'excuse', all of which share that ancestral sense of a reason or charge.

How the word is built

• by (from Middle English bi)
• cause (from Latin causa: reason, motive)