From Middle English haven, havene, from Old English hæfen (“haven; harbour; port”), from Proto-West Germanic *habanu, from Proto-Germanic *habnō, *habanō (compare Dutch haven, German Hafen, Norwegian/Danish havn, Swedish hamn, French havre), from Proto-Germanic *habą (“sea”) (compare Old English hæf, Middle Low German haf, Old Norse haf (“sea”), German Haff (“bay or lagoon behind a spit”), perhaps, in the sense of "heaving sea", etymologically identical with Old Norse haf (“heaving, lifting, uplift, elevation”), derived from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to lift, heave”)), or from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pnós (compare Old Irish cúan (“harbor, recess, haven”)). Doublet of abra.

• IPA^(key): /ˈheɪvən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvən

haven (plural havens)

1. (slightly dated) A harbour or anchorage protected from the sea.
   • c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, , The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. , London: ">…] for Henry Gosson, , published 1609, →OCLC, :
   • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “"Break, break, break,"”, in Poems.  In Two Volumes.">…], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, page 229:

     And the stately ships go on / To their haven under the hill;

2. (by extension) A place of safety.

   Synonyms: refuge, sanctuary, zoar

   • 2011 December 21, Helen Pidd, “Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis”, in the Guardian‎:

     Since its conception, the European Union has been a haven for those seeking refuge from war, persecution and poverty in other parts of the world.

3. (by extension) A peaceful place.

haven (third-person singular simple present havens, present participle havening, simple past and past participle havened)

1. To put into, or provide with a haven.

From Middle English haven; equivalent to have +‎ -en (plural simple present ending).

haven

1. (obsolete) plural simple present of have
   • 1540, Thomas , “A Prologue or Preface ”, in The Byble in Englyshe,  (Great Bible), , : Edward whytchurche, signature , verso:

     And they that occupye them bene in moche ſauegarde, and hauen greate conſolacyon, and bene the readyer vnto all goodnes, the ſlower to all euyll, and yf they haue done any thing amyſe, anone euen by the ſyght of the bookes theyꝛ conſciences bene admoniſhed, and they waxen ſoꝛy ⁊ aſhamed of the facte.

   • 1570, John Foxe, Actes and Monuments, page 517:

     For Lord, what charity hauen such men of religion, that knowen how they mowen against and sinne, and fleen awat from their brethren that bene more vncunning then they ben, and suffren thē to trauelen in the world withouten their councel as beastes?

   • 1606, N B, Sir Philip Sydneys Ouránia, That Is, Endimions Song and Tragedie, Containing All Philosophie, London: Ed. Allde, for Edward White, , →OCLC, signature G, recto:

     The craftie Badger, the Watry Otter / Whome Howndes purſue, till they hauen got her / Theſe Beaſtes been of higheſt Regard and Price / To pleaſure Princes and to murder vice.

• heav'n, nevah

haven c

1. definite singular of have

• IPA^(key): /ˈɦaːvə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ha‧ven
• Rhymes: -aːvən

From Middle Dutch havene, from Old Dutch *havana, from Proto-West Germanic *habanu, from Proto-Germanic *habnō, *habanō.

haven f (plural havens, diminutive haventje n)

1. harbour

   De schepen liggen veilig in de haven. ― The ships are safe in the harbour.

   We namen een wandeling bij het kleine haventje na het diner. ― We took a walk by the small harbour after dinner.

2. port

   Rotterdam heeft een van de grootste havens ter wereld. ― Rotterdam has one of the largest ports in the world.

• Afrikaans: hawe
• → Papiamentu: haf, haaf
• → Russian: гавань (gavanʹ)
  • → Ukrainian: гавань (havanʹ)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

haven

1. plural of have

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “haven”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

• hapene (dialectal)

From Proto-Finnic *habën, possibly a Baltic loan.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑʋen/,
• Rhymes: -ɑʋen
• Syllabification^(key): ha‧ven
• Hyphenation^(key): ha‧ven

haven (dialectal, Southwest Finnish, Uusimaa, Kymenlaakso, Kainuu, North Karelia, South Karelia)

1. (usually in the plural) (human) hair (on the head, beard, etc.)

   Synonyms: hapsi, hius

• ahven

From Old English habban, from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną.

• have, haav, haf, hafe, haben, habben, heven, hawe
• (contracted) han, haan, ha

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaːvən/, /ˈhavən/, (some dialects) /ˈhabən/
• (contracted) IPA^(key): /haːn/, /han/

haven (third-person singular simple present hath, present participle havynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative hadde, past participle had)

2. to own (to have ownership of):
   1. to possess (an abstraction; a quality)
   2. to include (as a part, ingredient, or feature).
      • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey , transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, James 2:17, page 110r, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

        ſo alſo feiþ if it haþ not werkis .· is deed in it ſelf

        So faith, if it doesn't incorporate works as well, is dead on its own.

   3. to hold; to have at disposal
3. to get, acquire, or obtain:
   • c. 1375, “Book I”, in Iohne Barbour, De geſtis bellis et uirtutibus domini Roberti de Brwyß (The Brus, Advocates MS. 19.2.2)‎, Ouchtirmunſye: Iohannes Ramſay, published 1489, folio 2, recto, lines 225-228; republished at Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, c. 2010:

     A fredome is a noble thing / fredome mayß man to haiff liking / fredome all ſolace to ma giffis / He levys at eß frely levys

     Oh, freedom is a noble thing: / it allows people to get enjoyment / and provides all of humanity's peace. / If you live free, you live at ease!

   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey , transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Joon 10:10, page 49v, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     a nyȝt þeef comeþ not .· but þat he ſteele ſle ⁊ leeſe / and I cam þat þey haue lijf .· ⁊ haue more plenteuouſli.

     A stealthy thief doesn't come unless he can steal, kill, and ruin. But I came so they could have life, and have it more abundantly.

   1. to take (in); to be given
   2. to have (a child); to give birth
4. to do; to perform (an action):
   1. (with preposition) to take (away)
   2. to have (done); to cause to (do, be)
   3. to be obliged to do; to be scheduled to do.
5. (auxillary) Denotes completion; forms the perfect tense.
6. to keep; to maintain (in a condition)
7. to have (in a certain relationship)
8. to consider; to look upon
9. to experience; to undergo

• As in Modern English, haven may be used elliptically in auxiliary constructions if the main verb is implicit.
• The perfect progressive construction (modern have been + present) is known in Middle English, though rare and late.
• Some intransitive verbs may form the perfect with ben rather than haven.

• ichave
• nad (“had not”)

• English: have (-'ve, -a)
• Scots: hae, ha, hiv, have, hawe (-a)
• Yola: ha, have

• “hā̆ven, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

haven

1. alternative form of havene

From Old High German hafan m (“pot”).

haven

1. pot

• Audio:

  (file)

haven

1. definite plural of hav

From Old Frisian *hafen, *haven, from Proto-West Germanic *habanu, from Proto-Germanic *habnō.

haven c (plural havens, diminutive haventsje)

1. harbour
2. haven, refuge

• havenhaad

• “haven (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011