Forgiven

How to spell forgiven

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce forgiven

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does forgiven mean?

1. verbPardoned for a fault, offence, or debt; no longer held responsible or owed.

Forgiven in a sentence

• The bank confirmed that the outstanding loan had been forgiven.

• After a long talk, she felt she had finally been forgiven for the mistake.

Where does forgiven come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the past participle of the verb forgive, which comes from the Old English forgiefan, formed from the intensifying prefix for-, meaning 'completely' or 'away', joined to giefan, meaning 'to give'. The literal sense was therefore 'to give completely' or 'to give away', and from that came the idea of giving up a claim against someone, that is, letting go of a debt or a wrong. The same pattern appears in related Germanic languages, such as German vergeben, which carries both the sense of forgiving and of giving away. The word has stayed close to its native English roots throughout its history, which is why the spelling is regular: it is simply 'for' plus 'give' plus the participle ending, with a single g and a single v that some writers are tempted to double.

How the word is built

• for- (completely, away)
• giv (from give: to grant)
• -en (past participle suffix)