The Meaning of Bought: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know the definition of bought? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the word bought, including its definition, etymology, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What does the word bought mean?

According to the American Heritage Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language and Collins English Dictionary, the word bought is the past tense and past participle of the word buy, a verb which means to purchase with a sum of money or funds. The pronunciation of bought is bɔːt. This word is often used in idioms like bought for a song, bad buy, or a real buy. This is also a geographical feature that refers to a curve or bend in a river or mountain chain as well as a fold, ben, or coil in a tail on an animal body or snake’s body. A buyer is one who gives the concession or sacrifice of funds to get the possession. Buy is also a slang term meaning to believe or fall for.

The word bought has translations in many different languages. Take a look at this list from Word Sense or Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary Fifth Edition. You may notice that many of these words look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are often formed when two words share a root or language of origin.

  •  Norman: acater‎ (Jersey), acataer‎ (continental Normandy)
  •  Old Norse: kaupa‎, byggja‎
  •  Roman: kupiti‎ (pf), kupovati‎ (impf), pokupovati‎
  •  Quechua: rantiy‎, rantii‎
  •  Occitan: crompar‎
  •  Icelandic: kaupa‎
  •  Catalan: comprar‎
  •  Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵙⵖ‎ (sγ), ⴰⵖ‎ (aγ)
  •  Malay: beli‎
  •  Mongolian: авах‎
  •  Urdu: مول لینا‎ (mol lēnā), خریدنا‎ (xarīdnā)
  •  Walloon: atchter‎
  •  Tagalog: bili‎, bilhin‎
  •  Romansch: cumprar‎, cumprer‎
  •  Armenian: գնել‎, առնել‎
  •  Ukrainian: купува́ти‎ (impf), купи́ти‎ (pf)
  •  Sotho: reka‎
  •  Indonesian: beli‎
  •  Maltese: xtara‎
  •  Latin: emo‎, sumo‎
  •  Albanian: blej‎
  •  Mandarin: 買‎, 买‎ (mǎi)
  •  Russian: покупа́ть‎ (impf), купи́ть‎ (pf)
  •  Cantonese: 買‎, 买‎ (maai5)
  •  Lao: ຊື້‎
  •  Moroccan Arabic: شرى‎ (šra)
  •  Korean: 사다‎, 구입하다‎
  •  Basque: erosi‎
  •  Afrikaans: koop‎
  •  Finnish: ostaa‎
  •  Spanish: comprar‎
  •  Arabic: اِشْتَرَى‎
  •  Ancient Greek: ὠνέομαι‎
  •  Kazakh: сатып алу‎
  •  Belarusian: купля́ць‎ (impf), купі́ць‎ (pf)
  •  Samogitian: pėrktė‎
  •  Avar: бичун босизе‎
  •  Portuguese: comprar‎, adquirir‎
  •  Turkmen: satyn almak‎
  • ‎  Yiddish: קויפֿן
  •  Estonian: ostma‎
  •  Waray-Waray: palit‎, balyo‎
  •  Italian: comprare‎
  •  Egyptian Arabic: اشترى‎ (ištarā)
  •  Latvian: pirkt‎, nopirkt‎
  •  Cyrillic: купити‎ (pf), куповати‎ (impf), покуповати‎
  •  Persian: خریدن‎ (xaridan)
  •  Nepali: किन्नु‎
  •  Ido: komprar‎
  •  Upper Sorbian: kupować‎ (impf), kupić‎ (pf)
  •  Swedish: köpa‎
  •  Azeri: satın almaq‎
  •  Sardinian: comparai‎, comporai‎, comporare‎, cumporai‎, comprai‎
  •  German: kaufen‎
  •  Ladin: comprer‎
  •  Hawaiian: kūʻai‎
  •  Slovak: kupovať‎ (impf), kúpiť‎ (pf)
  •  Macedonian: ку́пува‎ (impf)
  •  Lower Sorbian: kupowaś‎ (impf), kupiś‎ (pf)
  •  Okinawan: 買-ゆん‎, 買-いん‎ (kooin)
  •  Ainu: ホㇰ‎ (hok)
  •  Asturian: mercar‎, comprar‎
  •  Neapolitan: accattà‎
  •  Chuukese: kamö‎
  •  Japanese: 買う‎, 購入‎
  •  Czech: kupovat‎ (impf), koupit‎ (pf)
  •  Tajik: харидан‎
  •  Luxembourgish: kafen‎
  •  Swahili: kununua‎
  •  Sorani: کڕین‎
  •  Georgian: ყიდვა‎
  •  Istriot: cunprà‎
  •  Kyrgyz: сатып алуу‎
  •  Breton: prenañ‎
  •  North Frisian: (Föhr-Amrum) kuupe‎
  •  Khmer: ទិញ‎ (tɨñ)
  •  Bulgarian: купу́вам‎ (impf)
  •  Crimean Tatar: satın almaq‎
  •  Old Saxon: buggian‎
  •  Faroese: keypa‎
  •  Romani: kinel‎
  •  Lithuanian: pirkti‎
  •  Tuvan: садып алыр‎
  •  Friulian: comprâ‎
  •  Irish: ceannaigh‎
  •  Interlingua: comprar‎, emer‎
  •  Latgalian: pierkt‎
  •  West Frisian: keape‎
  •  Hebrew: קָנָה‎ (kaná)
  •  Hungarian: vásárol‎, vesz‎
  •  Tamil: வாங்கு‎
  •  Bengali: কেনা‎
  •  Sinhalese: ගන්නවා‎
  •  Dutch: kopen‎, aanschaffen‎
  •  Danish: købe‎
  •  Venetian: cronpar‎, conprar‎
  •  Greek: αγοράζω‎
  •  Galician: comprar‎
  •  Uzbek: sotib olmoq‎
  •  Thai: ซื้อ‎
  •  Aromanian: acumpãr‎
  •  Burmese: ဝယ်‎
  •  Slovene: kupovati‎ (impf), kupiti‎ (pf)
  •  Ngazidja Comorian: hula‎
  •  Pashto: پېرل‎ (рerǝ́l), پېرودل‎ (perowdᶕl)
  •  French: acheter‎
  •  Guaraní: jogua‎
  •  Uyghur: سېتىۋالماق‎
  •  Esperanto: aĉeti‎
  •  Amharic: መግዛት‎
  •  Romanian: cumpăra‎
  •  Turkish: satın almak‎
  •  Scottish Gaelic: ceannaich‎
  •  Norwegian: kjøpe‎
  •  Haitian Creole: achte‎
  •  Kurdish: kirrîn‎, standin‎
  •  Sicilian: accattari‎, cumprari‎
  •  Hindi: मोल लेना‎, ख़रीदना‎
  •  Corsican: cumprà‎
  •  Zhuang: cawx‎
  •  Old English: bycgan‎
  •  Vietnamese: mua‎
  •  Hausa: sáyṓ‎
  •  Polish: kupować‎ (impf), kupić‎ (pf)
  •  Navajo: nayiiłniih‎
  •  Somali: gado‎, iibso‎

Do you know what languages the following words are in? 

Bai kjøpe kupić اخیستل comprar خریدن ostaa acheter לִקְנוֹת

What is the word origin of bought?

According to Etymonline, the word bought has been used since the Middle English bight and Middle English byen, from the Old English bycgan and past tense bohte. This comes from the Proto-Germanic bugjan which also formed the  Old Saxon buggjan, Old Norse byggja, Gothic bugjan. This spelling is from the southwest England dialect. 

How can the word bought be used in a sentence?

Using words in a sentence is a great way to memorize their definitions. You can also try to make flashcards or quizzes to test your knowledge of different definitions. Try using this word of the day in a sentence today! Below are some different examples of the word bought to help get you started. 

We bought a ticket to see the show from the local store.

I bought a couch from my neighbour Meg. Their flattery won me over.

We bought part of a sling to keep a bend in our injured son’s arm.

I bought the entire stock of new car parts from the new company to start my own conglomerate and auction – a twist they didn’t see coming. My dedication paid off.

We bought gas masks because the air quality was growing poor.

I bought a high-end designer item as a reward for a job well done – an expensive bag.

What are synonyms and antonyms of the word bought?

There are many different words that a person can use in place of the word bought (bɔt). These are called synonyms. Synonyms are words and phrases that have the same definition as another given word or phrase. Learning synonyms is a great way to expand your English language vocabulary. Take a look at the below list of synonyms of bought from Power Thesaurus.

  •  get
  •  pay off
  •  bargain-basement
  •  get hold of
  •  suborn
  •  license
  •  secure
  •  procure
  •  shop
  •  give the thumbs up to
  •  steal
  •  corrupt
  •  come by
  •  fall for
  •  buy back
  •  give the nod
  •  obtain
  •  buy over
  •  acquire
  •  good buy
  •  rubber-stamp
  •  buying
  •  credit
  •  buy off
  •  gain
  •  take
  •  lap up
  •  swallow
  •  fix
  •  buy out
  •  give the ok to
  •  give the go-ahead to
  •  trust
  •  give credence to
  •  low-cost
  •  bribe
  •  dicker
  •  accept
  •  low-priced
  •  pick up
  •  have
  •  purchase
  •  bought for a song
  •  believe
  •  deal
  •  lubricate
  •  bargain
  •  pay for
  •  acquisition
  •  give the green light to

There are also numerous different words that have the opposite meaning of the word bought. These opposite words are called antonyms, which are another great way to expand your English language vocabulary. This list of antonyms is also provided by Power Thesaurus.

  •  provide
  •  burden
  •  den
  •  promote
  •  albatross
  •  purvey
  •  be dissatisfied with
  •  peddle
  •  argue against
  •  be displeased with
  •  baggage
  •  blame
  •  export
  •  lose
  •  position
  •  boonk
  •  market
  •  bad luck
  •  advertise
  •  be hostile to
  •  cast doubt on
  •  be anti
  •  oppose
  •  bar
  •  pit
  •  vend
  •  argue with
  •  sell
  •  attack in response
  •  barrier
  •  boycott
  •  commercialize
  •  blemish
  •  be against
  •  cross
  •  meet opposition
  •  ax
  •  be hostile towards
  •  ball and chain
  •  disfavor
  •  attack
  •  cast doubt
  •  affliction
  •  purchase
  •  block
  •  free
  •  blockage
  •  blow
  •  bad fortune
  •  be in opposition to

Overall, the word bought means the past participle of the verb buy, which means to purchase. This is one of many irregular verbs in the English language.

Sources:

  1. buy: meaning, origin, translation | Word Sense 
  2. Buy synonyms – 1 444 Words and Phrases for Buy | Power Thesaurus  
  3. Buy antonyms – 489 Opposites of Buy | Power Thesaurus 
  4. Bought definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary 
  5. buy | Origin and meaning of buy | Online Etymology Dictionary