Then

How to spell then

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce then

What does then mean?

1. adverbAt that time, or next in a sequence of events.

Then in a sentence

• First we ate, then we left.

• She paused, then continued speaking.

• If you're ready, then let's go.

• Back then, we didn't have mobile phones.

• Take a deep breath, then try again.

Where does then come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word comes from Old English 'thanne', 'thænne', or 'thonne', an adverb meaning 'at that time' or 'next in order'. It grew from the same Germanic demonstrative base that gave us 'that' and 'the', so the ideas of pointing to a particular time and pointing to a particular thing share a deep family resemblance. Closely related forms appear across the Germanic languages, including the Dutch 'dan' and the German 'dann'. Over the centuries the spelling settled on 'then' for the time and sequence meaning, while the comparison word 'than' split off with its own vowel, and that split is exactly the trap modern writers fall into. Keeping 'then' tied in your mind to its cousin 'when', another time word ending in -en, is a reliable way to remember which spelling means 'at that time'.

How the word is built

• Adverb of time.