Opened
verbMoved something from a closed or sealed position so that it was no longer shut, or began an activity or business.
How to spell opened
6 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce opened
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does opened mean?
- verbMoved something from a closed or sealed position so that it was no longer shut, or began an activity or business.
Opened in a sentence
-
She opened the front door before the guests arrived.
-
The new branch opened to customers on Monday morning.
Where does opened come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This is the past tense of the verb 'open', which descends directly from the Old English 'openian', meaning 'to make or become open'. That verb was built on the adjective 'open', literally 'not shut', and it has close cousins across the Germanic languages, such as the Dutch 'open' and the German 'offen'. The word is also related to 'up', reflecting an old sense of lifting or turning something upward to reveal what lies behind it. The past form simply adds the regular '-ed' ending, and because the stress falls on the first syllable and the final consonant is not doubled, the spelling stays as a plain 'opened' rather than 'openned'. It has remained in continuous everyday use for well over a thousand years.
How the word is built
- open (Old English open: not closed)
- -ed (past tense suffix)
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