Haven

How to spell haven

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce haven

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does haven mean?

1. nounA place of safety, shelter, or refuge.

Haven in a sentence

• The quiet library was a welcome haven from the noisy office.

• Investors moved their money into what they saw as a financial haven.

Where does haven come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes from the Old English hæfen, which meant a harbour or port, a sheltered stretch of water where ships could lie safely at anchor. It is closely related to the Old Norse hofn, the Dutch haven, and the German Hafen, all carrying the same idea of a protected inlet, and the connection survives today in place names such as Newhaven and the American city of New Haven. From that literal sense of a safe anchorage, the meaning broadened over the centuries into any place of refuge or shelter, whether or not the sea is involved. The spelling trap is the quiet middle: it is spelled with a simple single v and an unstressed -en ending, not the -on or -in a writer might guess, and it should not be confused with the unrelated 'heaven'. Modern uses like 'tax haven' and 'safe haven' still echo the original picture of a sheltered port that keeps something safe.

How the word is built

• haven (from Old English hæfen: a harbour, port, place of shelter)