the.com/being
The verb so basic it had to fake its own existence to mean anything.
means The state of existing, or a living thing that exists — and also the present participle of 'to be,' covering the act of existing at all.
from From Old English 'bēon,' one of several verbs the language stitched together to make 'to be' — which is why the verb is so wildly irregular, drawing on roots that didn't originally belong together. 'Bēon' traces back to a Proto-Indo-European root '*bhewh-,' meaning 'to grow, come into being,' a cousin of Latin 'fui' (I was) and 'futurus' (about to be). So at its deepest root, 'being' isn't static existence but something that grows into existence — fitting for a word that had to assemble itself from spare parts.
- oldest verb
- To be is among the most ancient English words
- shapeshifter
- Am, is, are, was, were, been: same verb
- philosophy bait
- Heidegger wrote 400 pages asking what it means
- deletable
- Many languages skip it entirely in sentences
- identity engine
- The equals sign of human language