English - Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ðɛn/
• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ðen/
• Homophone: than (unstressed, or for some speakers when stressed)
• Rhymes: -ɛn

English - Etymology

From Middle English then(ne), than(ne), from Old English þonne, þanne, þænne (“then, at that time”), from Proto-Germanic *þan-, *þana- (“at that (time), then”), from Proto-Indo-European *to- (“demonstrative pronoun”). Cognate with Dutch dan (“then”), German dann (“then”), Icelandic þá (“then”). Related to than.

English - Adverb

then (not comparable)

1. (temporal location) At that time.

   He was happy then.

   • Bible, Genesis xii. 6

     And the Canaanite was then in the land.

2. (temporal location) Soon afterward.

   He fixed it, then left.

   Turn left, then right, then right again, then keep going until you reach the service station.

   • Bible, Matthew v. 24

     First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

3. (sequence) Next in order; in addition.

   There are three green ones, then a blue one.

4. (conjunctive) In that case.

   If it’s locked, then we’ll need the key.

   Is it 12 o'clock already? Then it's time for me to leave.

   You don't like potatoes? What do you want me to cook, then?

5. (sequence) At the same time; on the other hand.

   That’s a nice shirt, but then, so is the other one.

6. (obsolete) At the time that; when.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I.23, reprinted 1817, Sir Thomas Malory, William Caxton, Morte d'Arthur: The Byrth, Lyf, and Actes of Kyng Arthur, Volume 1, page 37:

     Than the knyght sawe hym lye soo on the ground, he alyght and was passynge heuy, for he wende he had slayne hym […].

7. (UK, dialect, affirmation) Used to contradict an assertion.
   • 2001, Eric Malpass, At the Height of the Moon, page 28,

     ‘She says Indian elephants are tidgy little things.’ ¶ ‘They′re not then.’ Emma was getting heated. ‘They′re –’ ¶ ‘Emma!’ said Jenny sharply. The child subsided.

Synonyms

• (soon afterward): and then, and so, subsequently, so
• (next in order): and then

Translations

English - Adjective

then (not comparable)

1. being so at that time

Translations

See also

• by then
• just then
• now and then
• there and then
• until then

English - Noun

then

1. That time

   It will be finished before then.

Translations

English - Conjunction

then

1. obsolete spelling of than

English - Anagrams

• hent

English - References

• Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989

قافية