own

Meanings

own¹

adjectiveown (not comparable)

alternative Scotland ain · alternative obsolete owne

not comparableBelonging to; possessed; acquired and designated by; proper to; property of; titled to; held in one's name; under/using the name of. Often marks a possessive determiner as reflexive, referring back to the subject of the clause or sentence.
Prospero: Fairely ſpoke ; / Sit then, and talke with her, ſhe is thine owne ;
1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 14
4 more examples
The fathers shall not bee put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: euery man shall be put to death for his owne sinne.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 24:16
I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you[…] "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27
not comparableNot shared.
When we move into the new house, the kids will each have their own bedroom.
not comparableobsoletePeculiar, domestic.
not comparableobsoleteNot foreign.

own²

verbown (third-person singular simple present owns, present participle owning, simple past and past participle owned)

present singular third person owns · participle present owning · participle past owned · past owned

transitiveTo have rightful possession of (property, goods or capital); to have legal title to; to acquire a property or asset.
I own this car.
Synonyms: to possess, acquire, have to one's name, property of, title to
transitiveTo have recognized political sovereignty over a place, territory, as distinct from the ordinary connotation of property ownership.
The United States owns Point Roberts by the terms of the Treaty of Oregon.
informaltransitiveTo defeat or embarrass; to overwhelm.
I will own my enemies.
2 more examples
If he wins, he will own you.
All the ‘Milo OWNS stupid feminist’ type of videos today are made with much the same style as the new atheist videos that were equally numerous on YouTube a few years before with titles like ‘HITCHSLAP. Hitchens OWNS stupid Christian woman’.
2017, Angela Nagle, “Basic bitches, normies and the lamestream”, in Kill All Normies, Zero Books, →ISBN
transitiveTo virtually or figuratively enslave.
InternetslanggamesTo defeat, dominate, or be above.
Synonyms: pwn, beat, defeat, overcome, overthrow, vanquish, have, take
slangtransitivecomputingTo illicitly obtain administrative access to a computer system, thereby having full access to all the files thereon (including executables).
"TH15 5Y5T3M 15 0WN3D"
1996 June 21, The Happiest Dragon Alive!!, “Re: An unusual situation”, in (Usenet), retrieved 24 Sep 2016, message-ID <4qe8pc$8ti@nerd.apk.net>
Synonyms: pwn, 0wn
intransitiveslangTo be very good.
intransitiveTo admit, concede, grant, allow; not to deny.
I am sorry to own I began to worry then.
1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I
3 more examples
I own thy speechless, placeless power; but to the last gasp of my earthquake life will dispute its unconditional, unintegral mastery in me.
1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
For instance, when I flung the cat out of an upper window (though I did it from no ill-feeling, and it didn't hurt the cat), I was ready, after a moment's reflection, to own I was wrong, as a gentleman should.
1895, Kenneth Graham, The Golden Age, London, page 6
They learned how perfectly peaceful the home could be. And they almost regretted—though none of them would have owned to such callousness—that their father was soon coming back.
1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 5, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC
transitiveTo acknowledge.
I must own that I have been at fault all this time.
2 more examples
Two of those fellows you must know and own.
1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]
It must be owned, the good Jocelin, spite of his beautiful childlike character, is but an altogether imperfect 'mirror' of these old-world things!
1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “1, ’’Jocelin of Brakelond’’”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk)
transitiveTo proudly acknowledge; to not be ashamed or embarrassed of.
"Well, I'm not hiding anymore! I'm owning my girly looks with cute short pink hair!"
2014 April 17, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Thursday, Apr 17, 2014
transitiveTo take responsibility for.
Representative Nancy Mace, Republican of South Carolina, told reporters that Democrats “own” the assassination of Mr. Kirk. When a reporter questioned her about attacks on Democrats, she cut him off. “Democrats own this,” she said. “We’re talking about Charlie Kirk right now.”
2025 September 11, Luke Broadwater, Alan Feuer, quoting Nancy Mace, “As Political Violence Rises, Trump Condemns One Side”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 31 Oct 2025
transitiveTo recognise.
I own him as a son of my own.
transitiveTo claim as one's own.
UKdialectalintransitiveTo confess.

nounown (plural owns)

plural owns

InternetA crushing insult.
the amount of bigots that just screenshot my profile thinking it's the biggest own is insane.
2023 June 10, @__Happyface, Twitter

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo have rightful possession of (property, goods or capital); to have legal title to; to acquire a property or asset.

Similar

to possessacquirehave to one's nameproperty oftitle to

verbTo defeat, dominate, or be above.

verbTo illicitly obtain administrative access to a computer system, thereby having full access to all the files thereon (including executables).

Similar

pwn 0wn

antonym(s) of “admit”

Opposite

disown

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivebelonging to or on behalf of a specified person (especially yourself); preceded by a possessive

Similar

ain personal

verbhave ownership or possession of

Similar

have possess feature

Broader

have have got hold

Also see

acknowledge admit ain baffle beast on confess convince defeat feature have hold make a clean breast malavogue murdelize possess pwn rape steal waffle-stomp

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

own · adjective

Proto-Indo-European*h₂eyḱ-“to have, possess”
Proto-Germanic*aiganaz“own”
Proto-West Germanic*aigan“own”
Old Englishāgen“own, proper, peculiar”
Middle Englishoun
Englishown

From Middle English oun, owen, from Old English āgen (“own, proper, peculiar”), originally the past participle of āgan; from Proto-West Germanic *aigan (“own”), from Proto-Germanic *aiganaz (“own”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- (“to have, possess”). Doublet of eigen-. Cognates Cognate with Scots ain, awin, awn, ayn (“own”), Saterland Frisian oain (“own”), West Frisian, Dutch, and German eigen (“own”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish egen (“own”), Faroese egin (“own”), Icelandic eigin, eiginn (“own”), Norwegian Nynorsk eigen (“own”); also Ossetian исын (isyn, “to take”), Tocharian A and Tocharian B aik- (“to know, recognize”), Sanskrit ईश (īśa, “owning, possessing”). Originally past participle of the verb at hand in English owe.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

own · verb, noun

A back-formation from owner. Compare Old English āgnian, Dutch eigenen, German eignen, Swedish ägna.

Full word history & related roots →

Related words

Built from own

Show 140 more

choose-your-own-adventure choose your own adventure come into one's own comfortable in one's own skin cut one's own throat devil's own dig one's own grave don't shit in your own nest do one's own thing do one's own time dose of one's own medicine drink one's own Kool-Aid each to his own each to their own eat one's own eat one's own dog food every man is the architect of his own fortune every miller draws water to his own mill feather one's own nest for one's own good for one's own hand for one's own part foul one's own nest frolic of his own get one's own back get one's own way God's own country God's own county go one's own way have a mind of one's own have it your own way have one's own zip code high on one's own supply hoist by one's own petard hoisted by one's own petard hoisted on one's own petard hoisted with one's own petard hoist on one's own petard hoist with one's own petard hold one's own in a league of one's own in a world of one's own in one's own backyard in one's own good time in one's own little way in one's own little world in one's own right in one's own time in one's own world it is a wise child that knows his own father it's an ill bird that fouls its own nest jump at one's own shadow keep one's own counsel keep to one's own knitting know one's own head know one's own mind leave someone to their own devicesleave to one's own deviceslegend in one's own lifetime legend in one's own lunchtime legend in one's own mind legend in one's own time life of its own lift oneself up by one's own bootstraps lift oneself up by one's own boot-tags lift oneself up by one's own waistbands like the sound of one's own voice live one's own life make a stick for one's own backmake one's ownmake one's own luck march to one's own drum march to one's own drummer march to the beat of one's own drum march to the beat of one's own drummer mind one's own business mind your own beeswax mind-your-own-business no one should be judge in his own cause off one's own back off one's own bat of its own head of its own study of one's own of one's own accord of one's own making one's own boss one's own master one's time is one's own on one's own on one's own account on one's own bat on one's own ground on one's own hook on one's own time on someone's own dime out of one's own pocket own-account own brand own goal own label own motion ownness ownself ownsome ownwayish paddle one's own canoe pay back in someone's own coin pay one's own freight pay one's own way pick on someone your own size pick-your-own play someone at their own game plough one's own furrow pull oneself up by one's own bootstraps pull one's own weight put on one's own oxygen mask first put one's own oxygen mask on first raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps rent-to-own rod for one's own back rod for one's own breech roll one's own roll-your-own scratch one's own itch sell one's own grandmother co-own disown misown ownability ownable ownage owndom owner own up part-own pwn state-owned you will own nothing and be happy self-own

Translations

Afrikaans eie, besit

eiebelonging to (determiner)
besithave rightful possession of
hethave rightful possession of
erkenacknowledge responsibility for
toegeeacknowledge responsibility for

Ancient Greek ἴδιος, κέκτημαι

ἴδιος (ídios)belonging to (determiner)
κέκτημαι (kéktēmai)have rightful possession of
νομίζω (nomízō)acknowledge responsibility for

Arabic مِلْك, نَفْس

مِلْك (milk)belonging to (determiner)
نَفْس (nafs)belonging to (determiner)
مَلَكَ (malaka)have rightful possession of

Bulgarian свой, со́бствен

свой (svoj)belonging to (determiner)
со́бствен (sóbstven)belonging to (determiner)
владе́я (vladéja)have rightful possession of
и́мам (ímam)have rightful possession of

Catalan mateix, propi

mateixbelonging to (determiner)
propibelonging to (determiner)

Chinese Mandarin 自己的, 擁有 /拥有

自己的 (zìjǐ de)belonging to (determiner)
擁有 /拥有 (yōngyǒu)have rightful possession of
有 (yǒu)have rightful possession of
所有 (suǒyǒu)have rightful possession of

Czech vlastní, vlastnit

vlastníbelonging to (determiner)
vlastnithave rightful possession of
míthave rightful possession of

Danish egen, eje

egenbelonging to (determiner)
ejehave rightful possession of

Dutch eigen, bezitten

eigenbelonging to (determiner)
bezittenhave rightful possession of
hebbenhave rightful possession of

Esperanto propra, posedi

proprabelonging to (determiner)
posedihave rightful possession of

Estonian oma, enda

omabelonging to (determiner)
endabelonging to (determiner)
isiklikbelonging to (determiner)
omamahave rightful possession of
tunnistamaacknowledge responsibility for
tunnustamaacknowledge responsibility for
omistamaacknowledge responsibility for

Finnish oma, omistaa

omabelonging to (determiner)
omistaahave rightful possession of
tunnustaaacknowledge responsibility for

French propre, posséder

proprebelonging to (determiner)
posséderhave rightful possession of
avoirhave rightful possession of

German eigen, besitzen

eigenbelonging to (determiner)
besitzenhave rightful possession of
habenhave rightful possession of
eingestehenacknowledge responsibility for
zugebenacknowledge responsibility for

Greek δικός

δικός (dikós)belonging to (determiner)

Hawaiian ponoʻī

ponoʻībelonging to (determiner)

Hebrew מִשֶּׁל, but see יש ל־

מִשֶּׁלbelonging to (determiner)
but see יש ל־ (yésh l'-)have rightful possession of
היה ל־ (hayá l'-)have rightful possession of
שייך ל־ (shayákh l'-)have rightful possession of

Hindi अपना

अपना (apnā)belonging to (determiner)

Hungarian saját, birtokol

sajátbelonging to (determiner)
birtokolbelonging to (determiner)
birtokolhave rightful possession of
bírhave rightful possession of
sajáthave rightful possession of

Icelandic eiga

eigahave rightful possession of

Indonesian sendiri

sendiribelonging to (determiner)

Irish féin

féinbelonging to (determiner)

Italian proprio, possedere

propriobelonging to (determiner)
possederehave rightful possession of

Japanese 自身の, 所有する

自身の (jishin no)belonging to (determiner)
所有する (shoyū suru)have rightful possession of

Korean 자기의, 소유하다

자기의 (jagi-ui)belonging to (determiner)
소유하다 (soyuhada)have rightful possession of

Latin proprius, possideō

propriusbelonging to (determiner)
possideōhave rightful possession of
habeōhave rightful possession of

Latvian savs

savsbelonging to (determiner)

Malay sendiri

sendiribelonging to (determiner)

Norwegian Bokmål eie

eiehave rightful possession of

Polish swój, własny

swójbelonging to (determiner)
własnybelonging to (determiner)
posiadaćhave rightful possession of
miećhave rightful possession of

Portuguese próprio, possuir

própriobelonging to (determiner)
possuirhave rightful possession of

Romanian propriu, deține

propriubelonging to (determiner)
deținehave rightful possession of

Russian свой, со́бственный

свой (svoj)belonging to (determiner)
со́бственный (sóbstvennyj)belonging to (determiner)
владе́ть (vladétʹ)have rightful possession of
облада́ть (obladátʹ)have rightful possession of
име́ть (imétʹ)have rightful possession of
признава́ть (priznavátʹ)acknowledge responsibility for

Scottish Gaelic fhèin, sealbhaich

fhèinbelonging to (determiner)
sealbhaichhave rightful possession of

Slovak svoj, vlastný

svojbelonging to (determiner)
vlastnýbelonging to (determiner)
vlastniťhave rightful possession of
maťhave rightful possession of

Spanish propio, poseer

propiobelonging to (determiner)
poseerhave rightful possession of
tenerhave rightful possession of
reconoceracknowledge responsibility for
admitiracknowledge responsibility for

Swahili miliki

milikihave rightful possession of

Swedish egen, äga

egenbelonging to (determiner)
ägahave rightful possession of
erkännaacknowledge responsibility for
tillståacknowledge responsibility for
vidgåacknowledge responsibility for

Tamil சொந்த

சொந்த (conta)belonging to (determiner)

Turkish sahip olmak

sahip olmakhave rightful possession of

Ukrainian свій, вла́сний

свій (svij)belonging to (determiner)
вла́сний (vlásnyj)belonging to (determiner)
володі́ти (volodíty)have rightful possession of
ма́ти (máty)have rightful possession of

Urdu اپنا

اپنا (apnā)belonging to (determiner)

Vietnamese riêng, sở hữu

riêngbelonging to (determiner)
sở hữuhave rightful possession of

Welsh piau

piauhave rightful possession of

Yiddish אייגן

אייגן (eygn)belonging to (determiner)

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with own

phone loan known none shown unknown zone stone alone tone grown pension clone joan thrown lone cologne cone blown throne prone Joanne Malone Sloan

All rhymes →

Anagrams

now won

Cite this entry

APA

own. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/own

MLA

“own.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/own. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “own,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/own.

Source: own on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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own

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