Past

How to spell past

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce past

What does past mean?

1. nounThe time that has already happened, before the present moment.
2. adjectiveBelonging to or occurring in a time before now; former.
3. prepositionBeyond a particular point in place or time.

Past in a sentence

• noun

  She rarely talks about her past, preferring to focus on the future.

• adjective

  Over the past few months, sales have steadily improved.

• preposition

  The pharmacy is just past the bank on the left.

• noun

  The historian studied the distant past of the region in great detail.

• adjective

  Her past experience in nursing made her a strong candidate.

• preposition

  It was already half past nine when the meeting began.

Where does past come from?

Language of origin: French

This word began life as nothing more than an old spelling of 'passed', the past participle of the verb 'pass'. That verb came into English from the Old French passer, meaning 'to step or move along', which in turn traces back to the Latin passus, the 'pace' or 'step' you take when walking, related to pandere 'to stretch out (the legs)'. During the late Middle Ages writers used both 'passed' and 'past' for the verb form, but over time English split the two: 'passed' settled as the verb (something that happened), while 'past' hardened into a separate word covering the noun, adjective and preposition (a time, a state, or a position gone by). That shared ancestry is precisely why 'past' and 'passed' are still confused today, since they sound identical and started as the same word. Remembering that 'passed' is always the verb of an action, and 'past' is everything else, is the key to keeping them apart.

How the word is built

• past (originally the past participle of the verb 'pass', from Old French passer)

Words that sound like past

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• passed: The past tense of 'pass': moved by, handed over, succeeded, or elapsed.