because

English

Alternative forms

• 'cause, cos, cuz, coz, 'cos, 'cuz, 'coz, b/c

Etymology

From Middle English bi cause = bi ‎(“by”) + cause, modelled on Old French par cause.

Pronunciation

• (stressed)
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /bɪˈkɒz/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /biˈkɔz/, /biˈkʌz/, /bəˈkʌz/
• (unstressed)
  • IPA^(key): /bɪkəz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒz
• Hyphenation: be‧cause
• Rhymes: -ɑːz

Adverb

because ‎(not comparable)

1. (archaic) For the reason (that).
   • 1611, Authorized King James Version of Genesis 2:3:

     And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

2. On account (of), for sake (of).

   I ruined my life because of you!

3. Used alone to refuse to provide a full answer a question begun with "why", often taken as an ellipsis of "Because I said so".

Derived terms

• because of
• just because

Translations

on account

• Arabic: بِسَبَب ‎(bisabab), لِأَنَّ ‎(liʾanna)

  Egyptian Arabic: عشان ‎(ʕaʃān)

  Levantine Arabic: لأنو ‎(li'eno)

  Tunisian Arabic: فِي جُرّةْ ‎(fī jurrit)

• Armenian: քանի որ ‎(kʿani or)
• Bashkir: өсөн ‎(ösön)
• Bulgarian: защото (bg) ‎(zaštoto), поради (bg) ‎(poradi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 因為, 因为 (zh) ‎(yīnwèi)

• Czech: kvůli (cs)
• Danish: på grund af (da)
• Dutch: omdat (nl), dewijl (nl), want (nl), vermits (nl), daar (nl)
• Finnish: takia (fi)
• French: à cause de (fr)
• Georgian: გამო ‎(gamo)
• German: weil (de), denn (de)

• Greek: εξαιτίας (el) ‎(exaitías)
• Icelandic: vegna (is)
• Italian: perché (it)
• Jamaican Creole: bikaaz, bikaazn
• Latvian: jo (lv), tāpēc
• Lithuanian: nes
• Macedonian: поради ‎(poradi)
• Malay: kerana (ms), sebab (ms)
• Navajo: háálá
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: på grunn av (no)

• Persian: به خاطر ‎(be xâtere), برای این‌که ‎(barâye inke)
• Polish: ponieważ (pl), bo (pl) (informal, spoken)
• Portuguese: porque (pt), pois (pt), que (pt), por causa de (pt), devido a (pt)
• Romanian: din cauză că, din cauza
• Russian: и́з-за (ru) ‎(íz-za)
• Slovene: zaradi (sl)
• Spanish: porque (es)
• Swedish: på grund av (sv)

Conjunction

because

1. By or for the cause that; on this account that; for the reason that.

   I hid myself because I was afraid.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, The Celebrity:

     I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.

   • 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, American Scientist, volume 101, number 3: 

     In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 17, The Mirror and the Lamp:

     “Perhaps it is because I have been excommunicated. It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.”  ¶ She winced and bowed her head. Each time that he spoke flippantly of the Church he caused her pain.

2. As is known, inferred, or determined from the fact that.

   It must be broken, because I pressed the button and nothing happened.

   He's not a nice guy, because he yells at people for no reason.

3. (obsolete) So that, in order that. [15th-17th c.]
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.3.2:

     Simon […] set the house on fire where he was born, because nobody should point at it.

Synonyms

• (for the reason that): therefore, since, for, for that, forthy, for sake, forwhy, as, inasmuch as, ∵ (mathematics symbol)

Translations

by or for the cause that; on this account that; for the reason that

• Afrikaans: omdat, aangesien
• Albanian: sepse
• American Sign Language: OpenB@Sfhead Y@FromSfhead
• Arabic: لِأَنَّ ‎(liʾanna)

  Egyptian Arabic: علشان ‎(ʿalašān), عشان ‎(ʿašān)

  Moroccan Arabic: حيت ‎(Hit), على حقّاش ‎(ʿela ḥeqqaš)

  Tunisian Arabic: عْلَى خَاطِرْ ‎(ʿlā ḥāṭir)

• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: מטל ‎(meṬul)

  Syriac: ܡܛܠ ‎(meṬul)

• Armenian: որովհետև ‎(orovhetew), քանզի (hy) ‎(kʿanzi), քանի որ ‎(kʿani or)
• Aromanian: cã
• Asturian: porque
• Bashkir: сөнки ‎(sönki)
• Belarusian: таму́ што ‎(tamú što), бо ‎(bo)
• Bengali: কারণ ‎(karôn)
• Breton: peogwir (br), abalamour ma, en abeg ma, rak ma
• Bulgarian: защото (bg) ‎(zaštoto), тъй като ‎(tǎj kato), понеже (bg) ‎(poneže)
• Burmese: လို့ (my) ‎(lui.)
• Catalan: perquè (ca), ja que, car (ca), puix, puix que
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 因為, 因为 (zh) ‎(yīnwèi), (more formal) 由於, 由于 (zh) ‎(yóuyú)

• Czech: protože (cs)
• Danish: fordi (da)
• Dutch: omdat (nl), aangezien (nl), daar (nl) (formal)
• Egyptian: ḥr

• Esperanto: ĉar
• Estonian: kuna (et), seepärast
• Ewe: elabena
• Faroese: tí, tí at
• Finnish: koska (fi)
• French: parce que (fr), car (fr)
• Georgian: იმიტომ რომ ‎(imiṭom rom), რადგანაც ‎(radganac), რადგან ‎(radgan), გამო ‎(gamo)
• German: weil (de), denn (de), da (de)
• Greek: διότι (el) ‎(dióti), επειδή (el) ‎(epeidí), γιατί (el) ‎(giatí)
• Haitian Creole: paske
• Hawaiian: no, no ka mea, ma, i, ma o, muli
• Hebrew: כִּי (he) ‎(kí), (with a negative consequence) בִּגְלַל שֶׁ־ ‎(biglál)
• Hindi: क्योंकि ‎(kyoṅki)
• Hungarian: mert (hu)
• Icelandic: því (is), af því, því að (is), af því að (is), vegna (is), vegna þess, vegna þess að, út af því að
• Ido: pro ke (io)
• Indonesian: karena (id), sebab (id)
• Interlingua: proque
• Irish: óir, mar (ga), toisc go

  Old Irish: hóre

• Italian: perché (it)
• Japanese: なぜなら ‎(názenara), だって ‎(datte), (...) から (ja) ‎(kara), ので ‎(node), ために ‎(tameni)
• Khmer: ព្រោះ (km) ‎(bprūah), ពីព្រោះ (km) ‎(bpi-bprūah)
• Korean: -이기 때문에 (-igi ttaemune)

• Kurdish: çimkî (ku), ji ber ku (ku)

  Sorani: بۆ ئه‌وه‌, چونکه‌

• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: quia (la), quod (la), quoniam (la), cum (la), propter
• Latvian: jo (lv), tāpēc, tāpēc ka, tādēļ, tādēļ ka
• Lithuanian: nes, todėl, kad
• Lojban: ri'a
• Low German: ümdat, dor
• Luxembourgish: well
• Macedonian: затоа што ‎(zatoa što), бидејќи ‎(bidejḱi)
• Malay: kerana (ms), sebab (ms), karena
• Maltese: għaliex
• Maore Comorian: mana
• Maori: nā te mea, nō te mea, tā te mea, tō te mea
• Mongolian: ягаад гэвэл (mn) ‎(jagaad gevel)
• Navajo: háálá
• Neapolitan: pecché
• Norman: passequé (Guernsey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fordi (no), ettersom (no), da (no)

  Nynorsk: av di (nn), fordi (nn), ettersom (nn), då (nn)

• Novial: pro ke
• Old English: þæs, þæs þe, forþon þe
• Pashto: ځکه چې ‎(źëka če)
• Persian: زیرا (fa) ‎(zirâ), چونکه (fa) ‎(čunke), چون (fa) ‎(čun), بدلیل (fa)
• Pitjantjatjara: -nguru, -languru, panya
• Polish: bo (pl), ponieważ (pl), dlatego że, gdyż (pl)
• Portuguese: porque (pt), já que (pt)
• Romanian: pentru că, din cauză că, datorită, deoarece (ro)
• Romansch: perquai che, damai che
• Russian: потому́ что (ru) ‎(potomú čto), та́к как (ru) ‎(ták kak), поско́льку (ru) ‎(poskólʹku), ведь (ru) ‎(vedʹ), и́бо (ru) ‎(íbo) (literary), поне́же (ru) ‎(ponéže) (archaic, rare)
• Sanskrit: please add this translation if you can
• Scottish Gaelic: oir
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: је̏р

  Roman: jȅr

• Slovak: pretože
• Slovene: ker (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: dokulaž

• Spanish: porque (es), ya que (es)
• Swedish: därför att (sv), eftersom (sv)
• Tagalog: (literally) dahil
• Talysh:

  Asalemi: چون ‎(cun)

• Thai: เพราะ (th) ‎(práw)
• Tibetan: གང་ཡིན་ཟེར་ན ‎(gang yin zer na)
• Turkish: çünkü (tr)
• Ukrainian: бо (uk) ‎(bo), тому́ ‎(tomú), тому́ що ‎(tomú ščo), та́к як ‎(ták jak), оскі́льки ‎(oskílʹky), а́дже (uk) ‎(ádže), внаслі́док ‎(vnaslídok), унаслі́док ‎(unaslídok)
• Urdu: کیونکہ ‎(kyoṅki)
• Vietnamese: tại vì, vì (vi), bởi vì
• Walloon: paski (wa), ca (wa)
• Welsh: achos (cy), oherwydd
• West Frisian: meidat, omdat, mei't, om't (fy)

as known because; as inferred because; as determined because

• Finnish: koska (fi), sillä (fi)
• Georgian: გამო ‎(gamo)
• German: denn (de)
• Macedonian: бидејќи ‎(bidejḱi)
• Pashto: ځکه چې ‎(źëka če)

• Portuguese: porque (pt)
• Romanian: deoarece (ro)
• Scottish Gaelic: oir
• Slovene: saj

Preposition

because

1. (uncommon, slang, chiefly Internet) On account of, because of. [since at least the 20th century]
   • 2012 October 20, "D.F. Manno" (username), GOP deadbeat dad: No abortion exceptions because SCIENCE!, in alt.fan.cecil-adams, Usenet
   • 2013 November 19, Megan Garber, English Has a New Preposition, Because Internet:

     Linguists are recognizing the delightful evolution of the word "because."

     Let's start with the dull stuff, because pragmatism.

   • 2013 December 6, Donald Glover (Childish Gambino), Because the Internet

Derived terms

• because reasons

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: between · face · tell · #175: because · few · whom · love

References

• Glossa, volume 17 (1997), page 175: cf. Emonds 1976:175 on the analysis of Modern English because as a preposition introducing a clause