big

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Large in size, amount, or degree.

   They live in a big house near the park.

2. 2
   adj

   Important or serious.

   Buying a home is a big decision.

3. 3
   adj

   Kind, generous, and forgiving.

   She has a big heart and helps everyone.

4. 4
   adv

   In a way that is very successful or on a large scale.

   The play was a big success at the box office.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Big is of unknown origin. It first appeared in the early Middle Ages meaning “strong” or “powerful”; unambiguous examples referring simply to size date from the 15th century. Its use for an elder sibling arose in the early 19th century.

Inherited from Northern Middle English big, bigge (“powerful, strong”), possibly from a dialect of Old Norse. Ultimately perhaps a derivative of Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”), in which case big would be related to bogey, bugbear, and bug. Compare dialectal Norwegian bugge (“great man”), Low German Bögge, Boggelmann.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary