Trained

How to spell trained

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce trained

What does trained mean?

1. adjectiveHaving been taught a particular skill or behaviour through instruction or practice.
2. verbPast tense of train: taught a skill, or prepared the body through exercise.

Trained in a sentence

• adjective

  The hospital relies on a team of highly trained nurses.

• verb

  She trained for months before running the marathon.

• adjective

  A properly trained dog will sit and wait at the door.

• verb

  The company trained all its staff on the new software last spring.

Where does trained come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past form of the verb 'train', which English took from the Old French verb trainer (also spelled trahiner), meaning 'to drag, draw along, or trail behind'. That French word descended from the Latin trahere, which literally meant 'to pull or drag', the same root that gives us 'tractor' and 'attract'. The early English sense kept this idea of drawing something along, as in the trailing part of a gown still called a 'train', and the sense of 'drawing out' a plant or animal into a desired shape. From the notion of guiding and shaping came the modern meaning of instructing a person or animal through practice, and the participle 'trained' simply adds the regular -ed ending to mark completed action. Because the verb ends in a silent 'e' that is dropped, learners only add 'd', giving the smooth one-syllable 'trained'.

How the word is built

• train (from Latin trahere: to pull, draw)
• -ed (past tense / participle suffix)