participle
English
Etymology
From Middle English participle, from Old French participle (1388), variant of participe, from Latin participium.
Pronunciation
Noun
participle (plural participles)
- (grammar) A form of a verb that may function as an adjective, noun or adverb. English has two types of participles: the present participle and the past participle. In other languages, there are others, such as future, perfect, and future perfect participles.
Usage notes
Contemporary English constructs the perfect, progressive and progressive perfect aspects, and the passive voice from participles and auxiliary verbs. The tense is always expressed through the auxiliary verb.
- I have asked. (present tense, perfect aspect)
- I am asking. (present tense, progressive aspect)
- I am asked. (present tense, passive voice)
When not combined with have or be, participles are almost always adjectives and can form adjectival phrases called participial phrases. Nouns can occasionally be derived from these adjectives:
- the following items
- the following
- the dying victims
- the dying
In English, participles typically end in -ing, -ed or -en.
A present participle ending in -ing has the same form but a different function from a verbal noun called a gerund. Sometimes a present participle (adjective) is mistakenly called a gerund (noun).
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations
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Further reading
- “participle”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- participle in Britannica Dictionary
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *keh₂p-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Grammar
- en:Parts of speech