Belong

How to spell belong

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce belong

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does belong mean?

1. verbTo be the property of, to be a member of, or to have a rightful place somewhere.

Belong in a sentence

• Those documents belong in the locked filing cabinet.

• The keys belong to the new tenant downstairs.

Where does belong come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Belong comes from Middle English 'belongen', formed by adding the intensive prefix 'be-' to the older verb 'longen', which meant 'to pertain to' or 'to be suitable for'. That earlier verb descended from Old English 'langian', which carried the sense of going along with or being connected to something, and it is related to the idea of things lying alongside one another. The 'be-' prefix here is the same all-purpose intensifier found in 'beset', 'bemoan', and 'become', strengthening the root rather than adding a separate meaning. By the 1300s the combined form had settled into its modern sense of rightful place, ownership, or membership. Although it looks as though it contains the adjective 'long' meaning lengthy, that resemblance is purely a spelling coincidence, since the relevant root is about belonging rather than length.

How the word is built

• be- (intensive prefix)
• long (from Old English langian: to pertain to, go along with)