haven
pronunciation
How to pronounce haven in British English:
UK [ˈheɪvn]
How to pronounce haven in American English:
US [ˈheɪvn]
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- Noun:
- a shelter serving as a place of safety or sanctuary
- a sheltered port where ships can take on or discharge cargo
Word Origin
- haven
- haven: [11] Etymologically, a haven is probably a ‘container’ for ships. The word appears to go back ultimately to Indo-European *kap-, source also of Latin capere ‘seize’ (whence English capable, capture, etc). This produced Old Norse höfn or hafn, which lies behind the modern Scandinavian words for ‘harbour’ (such as Swedish hamn and Danish havn), and was borrowed into late Old English as hæfen, whence modern English haven. Closely related is Dutch haven, from which German borrowed hafen ‘harbour’.=> capable, captive, capture
- haven (n.)
- late Old English hæfen "haven, port," from Old Norse höfn "haven, harbor" or directly from Proto-Germanic *hafno- (cognates: Danish havn, Middle Low German havene, German Hafen), perhaps from PIE *kap- "to seize, hold contain" (see capable, and compare have) on notion of place that "holds" ships. But compare Old Norse haf, Old English hæf "sea" (see haff). Figurative sense of "refuge," now practically the only sense, is c. 1200.
Example
- 1. Such bonds were a safe haven during thecredit crunch .
- 2. Classes were hardly a safe haven .
- 3. At last , some vessels arrived to transport survivors to safe haven in havana .
- 4. It could be somewhere real , or imagined your own uniquely special relaxing haven .
- 5. So is china establishing itself as a haven ?