Find
verbTo discover or locate something, either by searching or by chance.
How to spell find
4 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce find
What does find mean?
- verbTo discover or locate something, either by searching or by chance.
- nounSomething valuable or interesting that has been discovered.
Find in a sentence
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verb
She could not find her keys before leaving for work.
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noun
The rare coin was a remarkable find for the museum.
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verb
Researchers hope to find a faster way to process the data.
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noun
That cheap flat near the station was a real find.
Where does find come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This is one of the oldest words in the language, descending directly from the Old English verb 'findan', which meant to come upon, meet with, or discover. It traces back to a common Germanic root, related to the Old Norse 'finna', the Dutch 'vinden', and the German 'finden', all carrying the same core idea of locating or encountering something. Scholars connect the deeper ancestry to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning to walk toward or come upon, an apt image for someone tracking something down on foot. Because the word is so old and native, its spelling has stayed simple and regular, with the only quirk being its irregular past tense 'found' rather than a tidy '-ed' form. The noun sense, meaning a thing that has been discovered, grew out of the verb and became common in the nineteenth century.
How the word is built
- find (native root meaning to come upon or discover); irregular verb with past tense 'found'
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