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Wiktionary

den

See also: Appendix:Variations of "den"
Languages (34)
Translingual • English
Afrikaans • Akan • Bambara • Breton • Catalan • Cimbrian • Cornish • Czech • Danish • Dutch • German • Irish • Japanese • Luxembourgish • Malay • Mandarin • Messapic • Middle Dutch • Middle English • Minangkabau • Mokilese • Norwegian Bokmål • Norwegian Nynorsk • Old Czech • Papiamentu • Pennsylvania German • Polish • Russenorsk • Spanish • Sranan Tongo • Swedish • Zhuang
Page categories

Translingual

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Symbol

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den

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Slavey. (macrolanguage)

English

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English den, from Old English denn (“den, lair (of a beast), cave; a swine-pasture, a woodland pasture for swine”), from Proto-West Germanic *dani (“threshing-floor, barn-floor”). Cognate with Scots den (“den, lair”), Middle Dutch denne (“burrow, den, cave, attic”), Dutch den (“ship's deck, threshing-floor, mountain floor”), Middle Low German denne, danne (“threshing-floor, small dale”), German Tenne (“threshing-floor, barn for threshing”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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den (plural dens)

  1. A small cavern or hollow place in the side of a hill, or among rocks; especially, a cave used by a wild animal for shelter or concealment.
    Synonyms: lair; luster; Wiktionary appendix of animal terms, including their homes
    a den of robbers
    Daniel was put into the lions’ den.
  2. A squalid or wretched place; a haunt.
    a den of vice
    an opium den; a gambling den
  3. A comfortable room not used for formal entertaining.
    Synonym: family room
  4. Synonym of fort (“structure improvised from furniture, etc. for playing games.”)
    Our little girls love using bedsheets and other stuff around the house to make dens in the living room and pretending they're on adventures.
  5. (UK, Scotland, obsolete) A narrow glen; a ravine; a dell.
    • 1806, Sir William Forbes, An Account of the Life and Writings of James Beattie, LL.D., including many of his Original Letters:
      I have made several visits of late to the Den of Rubislaw
  6. A group of Cub Scouts of the same age who work on projects together.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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den (third-person singular simple present dens, present participle denning, simple past and past participle denned)

  1. (reflexive) To ensconce or hide oneself in (or as in) a den.
  2. (intransitive, zoology) Of an animal, to use as a den; to take up residence in.
    • 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 203:
      Although present in virtually all habitats, it preferred to den in caves, so its distribution, especially in cold, northern areas, may have been limited to limestone and other rocky regions where caves form.
    • 2023 August 30, Patrick Greenfield, “Why it may be time to stop using the polar bear as a symbol of the climate crisis”, in The Guardian‎[2], →ISSN:
      “Denning” – behaviour around making dens – has changed and bears are swimming long distances, but, says Aars, there is still enough sea ice in the spring for the bears to hunt successfully.

Etymology 2

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From Old French denier, from Latin denarius.

Noun

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den

  1. Abbreviation of denier (a unit of weight)

Etymology 3

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Noun

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den (plural dens)

  1. (Northumbria, chiefly in place names) Alternative form of dene.
Derived terms
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Etymology 4

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Adverb

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den (not comparable)

  1. Pronunciation spelling of then, representing AAVE, Bermuda English.

See also

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Anagrams

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Afrikaans

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Etymology

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From Dutch den.

Pronunciation

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IPA(key): /dɛn/

Noun

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den (plural denne)

  1. pine (tree)

Akan

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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den

  1. (Twi) hard
    nsa yɛ den ― the hand is hard[2]
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(Nouns)

(Adverbs)

(Adjectives)

References

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  1. ^ Kotey, Paul A. (1998). Twi-English/English-Twi Dictionary. New York: Hippocrene Books. →ISBN
  2. ^ Dolphyne, Florence Abena (1996) A Comprehensive Course in Twi (Asante) for the Non-Twi Learner‎[1], Accra, Ghana: Ghana Universities Press, →ISBN, page 123

Bambara

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Noun

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den

  1. child
  2. fruit

Derived terms

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(Sense 1)

Verb

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den (intransitive)

  1. to bear fruit

Breton

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Etymology

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From Proto-Brythonic *dün, from Proto-Celtic *gdonyos (“human, person”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰom-yo- (“earthling, human”), a derivation of *dʰéǵʰōm (“earth”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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den m

  1. human being
  2. person, man
  3. husband

Catalan

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Verb

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den

  1. inflection of dar:
    1. third-person plural present subjunctive
    2. third-person plural imperative

Cimbrian

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Pronoun

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den

  1. inflection of dèar:
    1. accusative singular masculine
    2. dative plural

Determiner

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den

  1. inflection of dèar:
    1. accusative singular masculine
    2. dative plural

See also

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Declension of dèar
masculine feminine neuter plural
nominative dèar dòi des dii / zòi
accusative den dòi des dii / zòi
dative dèmme dèar dèmme den

Further reading

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  • “den” in Martalar, Umberto Martello, Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Cornish

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Etymology

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From Old Cornish den, from Proto-Brythonic *dün, from Proto-Celtic *gdonyos (“human, person”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰom-yo- (“earthling, human”), a derivation of *dʰéǵʰōm (“earth”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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den m (plural tus)

  1. man
  2. person

Mutation

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  Mutation of den  
Cornish consonant mutation
unmutated soft aspirate hard mixed mixed after 'th
den dhen unchanged ten ten ten

Czech

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Czech Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia cs

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Old Czech den, from Proto-Slavic *dьnь (“day”).

Noun

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den m inan or (archaic or literary) m anim (related adjective denní)

  1. day (24 hours, usually from midnight to midnight)
    jednoho dne ― one day, someday
    po několika dnech ― after a few days
    za pár dní ― in a couple of days
    Jednoho dne tě chytí. ― They're gonna catch you one day.
  2. daytime (time between sunrise and sunset)
  3. (astronomy) day (rotational period of a body orbiting a star)
    Den na Merkuru trvá téměř 59 pozemských dní. ― A day on Mercury lasts almost 59 terrestrial days.
Declension
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Declension of den (mixed masculine inanimate reducible)
singular plural
nominative den dni, dny
genitive dne dní, dnů
dative dnu, dni dnům
accusative den dni, dny
vocative dne, dni dni, dny
locative dnu, dni dnech
instrumental dnem dny

when animate:

Declension of den (mixed masculine animate reducible)
singular plural
nominative den dnové
genitive dne dní, dnů
dative dnu, dni, dnovi dnům
accusative dne dni, dny
vocative dne, dni dnové
locative dnu, dni, dnovi dnech, dních
instrumental dnem dny, dni
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

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den

  1. genitive plural of dno

Etymology 3

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

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den

  1. genitive plural of dna

Further reading

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  • “den”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • “den”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
  • “den”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)

Anagrams

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Danish

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Etymology

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From Old Norse þann, the accusative form of sá, from Proto-Germanic *sa (“that”), from Proto-Indo-European *só (“this, that”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /dɛnˀ/, [ˈd̥ɛnˀ], [d̥ɛn], [d̥n̩], [pm̩]

Article

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den c (neuter det, plural de)

  1. (definite) the (used before an adjective preceding a noun)
    bilen - the car; den røde bil - the red car

See also

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Pronoun

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den c (neuter det, plural de)

  1. (demonstrative) that, the
  2. (personal) it

See also

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Danish personal pronouns
Number Person Type Nominative Oblique Possessive
common neuter plural
Singular First – jeg mig min mit mine
Second modern / informal du dig din dit dine
formal De Dem Deres
Third masculine (person) han ham hans
feminine (person) hun hende hendes
common(noun) den dens
neuter(noun) det dets
reflexive – sig sin sit sine
Plural First modern vi os vores
archaic / formal vor vort vore
Second – I jer jeres
Third – de dem deres
reflexive – sig

Dutch

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Etymology 1

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From Middle Dutch dan, danne, denne (“pine tree”), from Old Dutch *danna, from Proto-West Germanic *dannā (“pine tree”). Cognate with German Tanne.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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den m (plural dennen, diminutive dennetje n)

  1. pine, pine tree
    Synonyms: dennenboom, pijnboom
    Hypernym: naaldboom
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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From Middle Dutch den.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /dɛn/, /dən/
  • Hyphenation: den
  • Rhymes: -ɛn

Article

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den (definite)

  1. (archaic) Dative masculine, neuter, and plural of the definite article.
    Nederland in den goeden ouden tijd. — The Netherlands in the good old days.
    De baron gaf den koetsier een wenk en het rijtuig rolde heen. — The baron gave the coachman a sign and the carriage rode away. (from the story Gaston von Frankrijk by J.J.A. Goeverneur)
    In den beginne schiep God den hemel en de aarde — In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
  2. (archaic) Accusative singular masculine of the definite article.
  3. (Southern, dialectal) Masculine singular of the definite article, alternative form of de.
Usage notes
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  • The distinction of the dative case, which had long been frail and without any basis in actual speech, widely fell out of use over the course of the 19th century. The use of den for the masculine object case, however, remained usual in the written language until the spelling reform of 1947. Since then only de is generally used in standard Dutch. Den survives in idiomatic expressions, including surnames (e.g. Van den Berg).
  • In Flemish, Brabantian, and Limburgish dialects and vernaculars, den is still widely used with masculine nouns, but without any case distinction. Often den is used before vowels and certain consonants, while de is used before other consonants.
  • The now common pronunciation /dɛn/ is a spelling pronunciation. Before the word became archaic—and still in those lects where it is not archaic—it was pronounced with a schwa, /dən/.
Declension
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Dutch definite article
Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Nominative de de het de
Genitive des der des der
Dative den der den den
Accusative den de het de


Derived terms
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German

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Pronunciation

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Article

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den (definite)

  1. inflection of der (“the”):
    1. accusative masculine singular
    2. dative plural

Declension

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German definite articles
Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Nominative der die das die
Genitive des der des der
Dative dem der dem den
Accusative den die das die

Pronoun

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den

  1. that; whom; accusative masculine singular of der

Irish

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Contraction

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den

  1. Contraction of de an.
    Bhris mé den chrann é. ― I broke it off the tree.
    Fuair sé bás den ocras. ― He died of hunger.

Usage notes

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This contraction is obligatory, i.e. *de an never appears uncontracted. It triggers lenition of a following consonant other than d, s, or t.

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Irish preposition contractions
Basic form Contracted with Copular forms
an (“the sg”) na (“the pl”) mo (“my”) do (“your”) a (“his, her, their; which (present)”) ár (“our”) ar (“which (past)”) (before consonant) (present/future before vowel) (past/conditional before vowel)
de (“from”) den de na
desna*		 de mo
dem*		 de do
ded*, det*		 dá dár dar darb darbh
do (“to, for”) don do na
dosna*		 do mo
dom*		 do do
dod*, dot*		 dá dár dar darb darbh
faoi (“under, about”) faoin faoi na faoi mo faoi do faoina faoinár faoinar faoinarb faoinarbh
i (“in”) sa, san sna i mo
im*		 i do
id*, it*		 ina inár inar inarb inarbh
le (“with”) leis an leis na le mo
lem*		 le do
led*, let*		 lena lenár lenar lenarb lenarbh
ó (“from, since”) ón ó na
ósna*		 ó mo
óm*		 ó do
ód*, ót*		 óna ónár ónar ónarb ónarbh
trí (“through”) tríd an trí na trí mo trí do trína trínár trínar trínarb trínarbh
*Dialectal.

Japanese

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Romanization

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den

  1. Rōmaji transcription of でん

Luxembourgish

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Pronunciation

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Determiner

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den m

  1. unstressed form of deen

Declension

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Luxembourgish definite articles
masculine feminine neuter plural
nom./acc. deen (den) déi (d') dat (d') déi (d')
dat. deem (dem) där (der) deem (dem) deen (den)
gen. der

Malay

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Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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den (Jawi spelling دين)

  1. I, me, my

See also

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Malay personal pronouns
singular plural
1st person standard saya／ساي
aku／اکو, ku-／كو- (informal/towards God)
-ku／-كو (informal possessive)
hamba／همبا (dated) 		kami／کامي (exclusive)
kita orang／كيت اورڠ (informal exclusive)
kita／کيت (inclusive)
royal beta／بيتا
2nd person standard kamu／کامو
anda／اندا (formal)
engkau／اڠکاو, kau-／كاو- (informal/towards God)
awak／اوق (friendly/older towards younger)
-mu／-مو (possessive) 		awak semua／اوق سموا
kamu semua／كامو سموا
kalian／کالين (informal)
kau orang／كاو اورڠ (informal)
royal tuanku／توانكو
3rd person standard dia／دي
ia／اي
beliau／بلياو (honorific)
-nya／-ڽ (possessive) 		mereka／مريک
dia orang／دي اورڠ (informal)
royal baginda／بݢيندا

Mandarin

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Romanization

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den

  1. Nonstandard spelling of dēn.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of dèn.

Usage notes

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  • Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Messapic

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Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ghen. Related to Proto-Albanian *džana (“voice”) and Albanian zë (“voice”).[1]

Noun

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den

  1. voice

References

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  1. ^ Vittore Pisani (1976) Gli Illiri in Italia, page 69

Middle Dutch

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Article

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den

  1. inflection of die:
    1. masculine accusative/dative singular
    2. neuter dative singular
    3. dative plural

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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From Old English denn, from Proto-West Germanic *dani. Forms with a final vowel are probably generalised datives.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /dɛn/, /ˈdɛn(ə)/

Noun

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den (plural dennes)

  1. A cave or cavern.
  2. A chamber of residence:
    1. A den (animal lair)
      • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎[3], published c. 1410, Matheu 8:20, page 3v, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:
        and iheſus ſeide to him / foxis han dennes ⁊ bꝛiddis of heuene han neeſtis.· but mannes ſone haþ not where he ſchal reſte his heed
        But Jesus said to him, "Foxes have dens and the birds up above have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere he can rest his head."
    2. A refuge; a shelter.
  3. A catacomb (subterranean grave)
  4. (anatomy) A cavity; a division.
Descendants
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  • English: den
  • Scots: den
References
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Etymology 2

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From Anglo-Norman deen and continental Old French deien, from Latin decānus.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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den (plural denes)

  1. A dean (ecclesiastical official)
  2. A leader of a group of ten.
  3. An officer of a guild.
  4. (rare, by extension) A leader of a group.
Descendants
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References
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Etymology 3

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Noun

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den

  1. Alternative form of dene

Etymology 4

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Noun

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den

  1. Alternative form of deyne

Etymology 5

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Noun

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den

  1. Alternative form of dynne

Minangkabau

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Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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den

  1. I, me, my; first person singular (informal use; in dialogue with the same age person or with those who are younger)

See also

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Mokilese

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Noun

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den

  1. behavior

Inflection

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Possessive forms of den (tight inalienable possession, -i stem)
singular possessor first person dinihoa
second person dinimwen
third person dinin
dual possessors first person inclusive dinisa
first person exclusive dinima
second person dinimwa
third person dinira
plural possessors first person inclusive dinisai
first person exclusive dinimai
second person dinimwai
third person dinirai
remote plural possessors first person inclusive dinihs
first person exclusive dinimi
second person dinimwi
third person dinihr
construct form dinin

Norwegian Bokmål

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): (stressed) /ˈdɛn/, (unstressed) /dən/

Pronoun

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den (genitive dens)

  1. it; third person singular, masculine/feminine gender. Nominative, accusative or dative.

Pronoun

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den m or f

  1. (demonstrative pronoun) that

Article

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den m or f

  1. The; only used if there is an adjective in front of the noun.
    bilen: the car → den røde bilen: the red car
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Anagrams

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From Old Norse þann, þenn, masculine accusative singular of sá, from Proto-Germanic *sa, from Proto-Indo-European *só.

Pronunciation

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Determiner

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den m or f (neuter singular det, plural dei)

  1. (demonstrative determiner) that
    Eg vil ha den bilen.
    I want that car.

Derived terms

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Article

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den m or f (neuter singular det, plural dei)

  1. the; only used if there is an adjective or numeral to the noun
    Han køyrde den raude bilen.
    He drove the red car.

Usage notes

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  • Usually put preceding the noun. In some rare cases of poetry, the article may come after the noun.
  • The noun is nearly always in its definite form. Exceptions include fixed expressions and poetry. Attributive adjectives are always in their definite forms.
  • May be omitted when used with the determiner same, used with an ordinal number, or an adjective denotes an inherent or natural attribute of the thing. Omission occurs more frequently, colloquially, in certain dialects.
    same tingen ― [the] same thing
    fyrste kvelden ― [the] first night
    svarte natta ― [the] dark night

Declension

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Norwegian Nynorsk demonstrative pronouns
singular masculine / feminine neuter
nominative-accusative den, denn / dann1 det, dat1
dative3 deim di
plural masculine / feminine / neuter
nominative dei
accusative dei, deim2
dative3 deim
genitive deira, deires3
1: Landsmål. 2: Unofficial today. 3: Rare or dialectal. 4: Obsolete.


Derived terms

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Pronoun

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den

  1. (demonstrative pronoun) that one
    Eg vil ha den.
    I want that one.

References

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  • “den” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
  • “den”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016
  • “den” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring

Old Czech

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Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Slavic *dьnь.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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den m inan

  1. day; daytime (period between sunrise and sundown)
  2. day (24 hour period)
  3. (often in the plural) day (unspecified period, particularly in the past)
  4. (in the plural) days (life)
  5. (religion) day; holiday
  6. (religion) day; doomsday

Declension

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Declension of den (n-stem reducible)
singular dual plural
nominative den dny dni, dnové
genitive dne dnú dnóv
dative dni dnoma dnóm
accusative den dny dny
vocative dni dny dni, dnové
locative dni dnú dniech
instrumental dnem dnoma dny
This table shows the most common forms around the 13th century.
See also Appendix:Old Czech nouns and Appendix:Old Czech pronunciation.

Descendants

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References

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Papiamentu

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Etymology

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From Portuguese dentro and Spanish dentro and Kabuverdianu dentu.

Preposition

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den

  1. in
  2. inside
  3. below

Pennsylvania German

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Etymology

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Compare German den.

Article

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den m (definite)

  1. accusative masculine singular of der (“the”)

Declension

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Pennsylvania German definite articles
Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Nominative der die es die
Dative dem or em der dem or em de
Accusative der or den die es die

Polish

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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den n

  1. genitive plural of dno

Russenorsk

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Norwegian Nynorsk den or its northern dialectal palatalized form.

Pronunciation

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Unknown. Possible examples:

  • IPA(key): /dɛnː/ (Norwegian accent)
  • IPA(key): /dɛɲː/ (palatalized, Northen Norwegian, attested as dein)

The attested Cyrillic spelling денъ indicates no palatalization. The letter "е" in non-Russian words may have two different ways of pronunciation (as /je/ or /e/). The variant closest to Norwegian pronunciation would be /e/:

Pronoun

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den

  1. this, that

Usage notes

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The pronoun has no conjugated forms, in difference from Norwegian, which conjugates this pronoun after gender and number (e. g. det), which are absent in Russenorsk.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Spanish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈden/ [ˈd̪ẽn]
  • Rhymes: -en
  • Syllabification: den

Verb

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den

  1. inflection of dar:
    1. third-person plural present subjunctive
    2. third-person plural imperative

Sranan Tongo

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From English them.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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den

  1. they
  2. them

Determiner

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den

  1. their (possessive pronoun)

Article

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den

  1. the (plural definite article)

Swedish

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old Swedish þæn, accusative of sā(r), from Old Norse sá, from Proto-Germanic *sa, from Proto-Indo-European *só.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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den c

  1. it (for common gender nouns)
    Jag ser Nisses bil. Den är röd.
    I see Nisse's car. It is red.
    Jag har tappat bort min nyckel. Har du sett den?
    I have lost my key. Have you seen it?
    Skalbaggen är mycket hungrig. Mata den varje timme.
    The beetle is very hungry. Feed it every hour.
  2. that (for common gender nouns)
    Den bilen är röd, men bilen där borta är grön
    That car is red, but the car over there is green
    1. the one, that one (for common gender nouns)
      Den stora bilen – den som Margit äger – är gul
      The big car – the one that Margit owns – is yellow
      – Vilken glass tog du? – Jag tog den med marshmallows.
      – Which ice cream did you have [take]? – I had [took] the one with marshmallows.
      – Vilken bil tycker du är finast? – Den (där)! *Pekar*
      – Which car do you think is the prettiest? – That one (there)! *Points* ["Där" (there) is optional, and could also be "här" (here) for example, for a nearby object, like in English]
  3. he, she, whoever, "the one"
    Den som lever får se
    Time will tell ("He who lives will (gets to) see" – idiomatic)
    Den som gräver en grop åt andra faller ofta själv däri
    He who digs a pit for others often falls himself therein (proverb based on the Bible – idiomatically old-fashioned language in Swedish as well)

Declension

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Swedish personal pronouns
Number Person Type Nominative Oblique Possessive
common neuter plural
singular first — jag mig, mej3 min mitt mina
second — du dig, dej3 din ditt dina
third masculine (person) han honom, han2, en5 hans
feminine (person) hon henne, na5 hennes
gender-neutral (person)1 hen hen, henom7 hens
common (noun) den den dess
neuter (noun) det det dess
indefinite man or en4 en ens
reflexive — sig, sej3 sin sitt sina
plural first — vi oss vår, våran2 vårt, vårat2 våra
second — ni er er, eran2, ers6 ert, erat2 era
archaic I eder eder, eders6 edert edra
third — de, dom3 dem, dom3 deras
reflexive — sig, sej3 sin sitt sina
1Neologism. Usage has increased since 2010, though it remains limited.
2Informal
4Dialectal, also used lately as an alternative to man, to avoid association to the male gender.
5Informal, somewhat dialectal
6Formal address
7Discouraged by the Swedish Language Council

Article

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den c (definite)

  1. the (when an adjective is used with a common gender noun in the definite – det is used for neuter gender nouns, and de for plural nouns, regardless of gender)
    en bil
    a car
    bilen
    the car
    en röd bil
    a red car
    den röda bilen
    the red car
    röda bilar
    red cars (for comparison – note that "röd" has the same inflection in the definite and plural)
    bilen den röda
    the red car (rare, poetic – intuitively, "the car, the red one" / "the car the red")
    Kalla den Änglamarken eller Himlajorden om du vill. Jorden vi ärvde och lunden den gröna.
    Call it the Angel Ground or the Heaven Earth if you like. The Earth we inherited and the green grove ("the grove the green" – poetic). (Lyrics from Änglamark.)
    1. the ... one (when the noun is implied, which is an idiomatic construction)
      – Vilken tröja vill du ha? – Den blå.
      – Which shirt do you want? – The blue one.
      – Vilken glass vill du ha? – Den största.
      – Which ice cream do you want? – The biggest (one).

Usage notes

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"The [adjective] [noun]" is expressed as "den/det/de (common gender, neuter gender, and plural, respectively) [adjective inflected for definite] [noun inflected for definite]." For example, "smaskig" (yummy) and "hamburgare" (hamburger – common gender) turns into "den smaskiga hamburgaren" (the yummy-definite hamburger-definite), "röd" (red) and "hus" (house – neuter gender) turns into "det röda huset" (the red-definite house-definite), and "snabb" (fast) and "bilar" (cars) turns into "de snabba bilarna" (the fast-definite cars-definite). "Den/det/de" is not optional, except often being left out in proper nouns and other lexicalized noun phrases with an adjective that are in the definite (giving "smaskiga hamburgaren" something of a "pub name" feel) – see de for examples.

The definite form of an adjective is identical to the plural form except optionally having "-e" instead of "-a" in the singular for nouns whose natural gender is masculine. For example, "lång" (tall) and "man" (man) turns into either "den långe mannen" or "den långa mannen," while "lång" (tall) and "kvinna" (woman) can only be expressed as "den långa kvinnan." Present participles – like in "den sjungande kvinnan" (the singing woman) and "de simmande fiskarna" (the swimming fishes) – do not inflect, and stay the same in indefinite, definite, singular, and plural noun phrases.

The construction above is called "double definiteness," since it can be considered redundant. It also occurs in Norwegian and Faroese, but not in Danish, where "the red house" is "det røde hus."

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References

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Anagrams

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Zhuang

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Etymology

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From Mandarin 電／电 (diàn).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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den (1957–1982 spelling den)

  1. electricity
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