# find
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English finden, from Old English findan, from Proto-West Germanic *finþan, from Proto-Germanic *finþaną, a secondary verb from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to go, pass; path bridge”).
See also West Frisian fine, Low German finden, Dutch vinden, German finden, Danish finde, Norwegian Bokmål finne, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish finna; also English path, Old Irish étain (“I find”), áitt (“place”), Latin pōns (“bridge”), Ancient Greek πόντος (póntos, “sea”), Old Armenian հուն (hun, “ford”), Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬧𐬙𐬃 (paṇtā̊), Sanskrit पथ (pathá, “path”), Proto-Slavic *pǫtь.
For the meaning development compare Proto-Slavic *najьti > Russian найти́ (najtí), akin to Proto-Slavic *jьti > идти́ (idtí); Russian находи́ть (naxodítʹ), нахо́дка (naxódka), akin to ход (xod), ходи́ть (xodítʹ).

### Pronunciation

* enPR: fīnd, IPA: /faɪnd/
* (Local Dublin) IPA: /fəɪn/
* (Canada) IPA: /faɪnd/
** (Dialectal) IPA: /fʌɪnd/, [fəi̯nd]
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (UK); “to find”:(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪnd
* Homophone: fined

### Verb

find (third-person singular simple present finds, present participle finding, simple past found or (dialectal) fand, past participle found or (archaic) founden)
* To locate
** (transitive) To encounter or discover by accident; to happen upon.
    I found this shell on the beach
*** 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:Searching the window for a flint, I found/This paper, thus sealed up.
*** a. 1667, Abraham Cowley, The Request:Among the Woods and Forests thou art found.
** (transitive) To encounter or discover something being searched for; to locate.
    I found my car keys. They were under the couch.
*** 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:I had occasion to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.
*** 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant.
*** 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field. Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler found evidence of them on their marine plastic, too.
** (ditransitive) Locate on behalf of another
    I found you a new place to live
* (ditransitive) To discover by study or experiment direct to an object or end.
    Water is found to be a compound substance.
* (transitive) To gain, as the object of desire or effort.
    to find leisure; to find means
** 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Revelacion off Sanct Jhon the Devine ix:[6], folio cccxxix, verso:And in thoſe dayes ſhall men ſeke deeth / and ſhall nott fynde hyt / ſhall deſyre to deye / and deeth ſhall flye frõ them.
* (transitive) To attain to; to arrive at; to acquire.
    Looks like he found a new vehicle for himself!
* (transitive) To meet with; to receive.
** 1951 March, J. H. Lehmann, A. D. Johnson, W. C. Bridges, J. Michel, D. M. Green, “Cardiac Catheterization—A Diagnostic Aid in Congenital Heart Disease”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 3, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 170:Among newer procedures, the Robb and Steinberg contrast visualization of cardiac chambers and venous catheterization of the right heart have found the broadest study and application.
* (transitive) To point out.
    He kept finding faults with my work.
* (ditransitive) To decide that, to discover that, to form the opinion that.
    I find your argument unsatisfactory.
    I went looking for you in the bed we share, but tonight I found you not there.
** c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:I find you passing gentle.
** 1647, Abraham Cowley, The Request:The torrid zone is now found habitable.
** 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:“ the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases.
* (transitive) To arrive at, as a conclusion; to determine as true; to establish.
    to find a verdict; to find a true bill (of indictment) against an accused person
** 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:to find his title with some shows of truth
* (transitive, archaic) To supply; to furnish.
    to find food for workmen
* (transitive, archaic) To provide for
    He finds his nephew in money.
** 1871, Charles Kingsley, “Port of Spain”, in At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies. […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 135:They stand idle in the market-place, not because they have not been hired, but because they do not want to be hired; being able to live like the Lazzaroni of Naples, on "Midshipman's half-pay—nothing a day, and find yourself."
** 1892, W. E. Swanton, Notes on New Zealand:the pay is good, the musterer receiving ten shillings a day, and all found, all the time he is engaged on the "run," even should he be compelled to remain idle on account of rain or mist.
* (intransitive, law) To determine or judge.
    The jury finds for the defendant.
* (transitive, ball games) To successfully pass to or shoot the ball into.
    Peters finds Jinkins, who is running down the left wing.
** 2011 January 25, Paul Fletcher, “Arsenal 3-0 Ipswich (agg. 3-1)”, in BBC:Van Persie scored a hat-trick against Wigan on Saturday and should have found the net again after Bendtner found him at the far post but the Dutchman's header rebounded to safety off the crossbar.
* (intransitive, hunting) To discover game.
** 1945, Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love, Penguin, published 2010, page 57:They found at once, and there was a short sharp run, during which Linda and Tony, both in a somewhat showing-off mood, rode side by side over the stone walls.

#### Conjugation

$^†$ Archaic or obsolete. $^1$ Dialectal.

#### Synonyms

* See also Thesaurus:deem

#### Antonyms

* lose

#### Derived terms

* barn find
* befind
* come to find out
* even a blind pig can find an acorn
* even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while
* even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while
* fault-find
* faultfind
* findability
* findable
* find a friendly bush
* find a new gear
* find another gear
* find as you type
* finder
* findfault
* find fault
* find favour
* find forth
* find God
* find in
* find it in oneself
* find it in one's heart
* findless
* find one's account
* find one's ass with both hands and a flashlight
* find oneself
* find one's feet
* find one's legs
* find one's place
* find one's tongue
* find one's voice
* find one's way
* find out
* find out the hard way
* find religion
* findspot
* find the lady
* find the latchstring out
* find the net
* find time
* find wanting
* find work
* find your height
* fork found in kitchen
* fuck around and find out
* gold is where you find it
* hard-to-find
* I can't find my ...
* it is easy to find a stick to beat a dog
* look as if one had lost a shilling and found sixpence
* look as if one has lost a shilling and found sixpence
* newfind
* outfind
* pathfind
* please find attached
* refind
* scratch a liberal and you'll find a fascist
* seek and ye shall find
* shed find
* speak as one finds
* that's for me to know and you to find out
* unfindability
* unfindable
* viewfinder
* where can I find a hotel
See also finding and found

#### Translations

Abkhaz: аԥшаара (apŝaara)
Afrikaans: vind (af)
Ainu: パ (pa)
Albanian: gjej (sq)
Arabic: وَجَدَ (ar) (wajada), لَقِيَ (ar) (laqiya)
Egyptian Arabic: لقى (laʔa)
Hijazi Arabic: لقي (ligi), لقى (laga)
Moroccan Arabic: لقى (lqa), صاب (ṣāb), جبر (jbar)
Armenian: գտնել (hy) (gtnel)
Aromanian: váflu
Asturian: alcontrar (ast), encontrar (ast)
Avar: батизе (batize)
Azerbaijani: bulmaq, tapmaq (az)
Bashkir: табыу (tabıw)
Basque: aurkitu, topatu
Belarusian: знахо́дзіць impf (znaxódzicʹ), знайсці́ pf (znajscí)
Bengali: খোঁজা (bn) (khō̃ja)
Bhojpuri: पावल (pāval)
Breton: kavout (br)
Bulgarian: нами́рам (bg) impf (namíram), наме́ря (bg) pf (namérja)
Burmese: တွေ့ (my) (twe.)
Catalan: trobar (ca)
Chechen: please add this translation if you can
Cherokee: (solid object) ᎠᏩᏘᎭ (awatiha), (long object) ᎠᏴᏩᏘᎭ (ayvwatiha), (flexible object) ᎦᎾᏩᏘᎭ (ganawatiha), (liquid object) ᎦᏁᏫᏗᎭ (ganewidiha)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 搵到 / 揾到 (wan$^2$ dou$^{3-2}$)
Hokkien: 揣著 / 揣着 (chhōe--tio̍h, chhē--tio̍h)
Mandarin: 找到 (zh) (zhǎo dào)
Cimbrian: bènnan
Crimean Tatar: tapmaq
Czech: nalézat (cs) impf, nalézt (cs) pf, nacházet (cs) impf, najít (cs) pf
Danish: finde (da), træffe (da)
Dutch: vinden (nl), aantreffen (nl)
Egyptian: (gmj)
Esperanto: trovi (eo)
Estonian: leidma
Faroese: finna
Finnish: löytää (fi)
French: trouver (fr)
Friulian: cjatâ, čhatâ
Galician: atopar (gl), topar (gl), deparar (gl), achar (gl), encontrar (gl)
Georgian: მიგნება (migneba), პოვნა (ṗovna)
German: finden (de)
Alemannic German: aaträffe
Gothic: 𐌱𐌹𐌲𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bigitan)
Greek: βρίσκω (el) (vrísko)
Ancient: εὑρίσκω (heurískō)
Hebrew: מָצָא (he) (matsá)
Hindi: पाना (hi) (pānā), मिलना (hi) (milnā)
Hungarian: talál (hu)
Icelandic: finna (is)
Indonesian: menemukan (id)
Interlingua: trovar
Irish: faigh (ga), aimsigh, tar ar
Istriot: truvà
Italian: trovare (it), scoprire (it), rinvenire (it), scovare (it), reperire (it)
Japanese: 見付ける (ja) (みつける, mitsukeru)
Kabuverdianu: atxa, otxá
Kazakh: табу (tabu)
Khiamniungan Naga: ēpchù
Khmer: រកឃើញ (rɔɔk khəəñ)
Korean: 찾다 (ko) (chatda)
Kumyk: тапмакъ (tapmaq)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: دیتنەوە (dîtnewe), دۆزینەوە (dozînewe)
Kyrgyz: табуу (ky) (tabuu)
Ladin: abiné
Lao: ບອກ (bǭk)
Latgalian: atrast, rast, savaicuot
Latin: inveniō (la), nancīscor, reperiō
Latvian: atrast, rast
Lithuanian: surasti
Lombard: trovà (lmo), truà
Low German: finnen (nds)
Macedonian: наоѓа impf (naoǵa), најде pf (najde), пронаоѓа impf (pronaoǵa), пронајде pf (pronajde)
Malay: please add this translation if you can
Maltese: sab
Middle English: finden
Mizo: hmu, hmuchhuak
Mòcheno: vinnen
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: олох (mn) (olox)
Neapolitan: ascià, truvà
Nepali: भेट्नु (bheṭnu), पाउनु (pāunu)
Ngazidja Comorian: uparisa
Norman: trouver
North Frisian: (Mooring) fine, (Föhr-Amrum) finj
Norwegian:
Bokmål: finne (no)
Nynorsk: finna, finne (nn)
Occitan: trobar (oc)
Ojibwe: (find things) mikige, (find people) mikaage
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: наити pf (naiti), обрѣсти pf (obrěsti)
Old English: findan
Old Polish: nałazici impf
Old Turkic: 𐰉𐰆𐰞 (bul-)
Oromo: argachuu
Ossetian: ссарын (ssaryn)
Persian: یافتن (fa) (yâftan), پیدا کردن (fa) (peydâ kardan)
Polish: znajdować (pl) impf, znaleźć (pl) pf
Portuguese: achar (pt), encontrar (pt)
Punjabi:
Shahmukhi: لَبّھݨا (labbhṇā), ڈُھوْنڈݨا (ḍhūnḍṇā), تَلاش کَرنا (talāś karnā)
Quechua: tariy, tarii
Romanian: găsi (ro)
Romansch: chattar, cattar, catar, chatter
Russian: находи́ть (ru) impf (naxodítʹ), найти́ (ru) pf (najtí)
Scots: fin
Scottish Gaelic: faigh, lorg, amais
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: на́ћи pf
Roman: náći pf
Shor: табарға (tabarğa)
Sicilian: truvari (scn)
Sinhalese: සොයා ගන්නවා (soyā gannawā)
Slovak: nachádzať impf, nájsť (sk) pf
Slovene: najti (sl) pf
Somali: helid (so)
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: namakaś pf
Spanish: encontrar (es), hallar (es)
Sranan Tongo: feni
Swedish: finna (sv), hitta (sv), uppdaga (sv), upptäcka (sv), utröna (sv)
Tagalog: hanapin
Tajik: ёфтан (tg) (yoftan), пайдо кардан (tg) (paydo kardan)
Tatar: табарга (tt) (tabarga)
Thai: พบ (th) (póp), เจอ (th) (jəə)
Tibetan: རྙེད (rnyed), རྙེད་གནང (rnyed gnang) (honorific)
Tocharian B: kälp-
Turkish: bulmak (tr)
Turkmen: tapmak
Tuvan: тывар (tıvar)
Ukrainian: знахо́дити (uk) impf (znaxódyty), знайти́ (uk) pf (znajtý)
Uyghur: تاپماق (tapmaq)
Uzbek: topmoq (uz)
Venetan: catar (vec)
Vietnamese: tìm (vi)
Volapük: tuvön (vo)
Walloon: trover (wa)
Welsh: ffeindio, dod o hyd
West Frisian: fine, treffe
Yiddish: געפֿינען (gefinen)
Zyphe: hmuh :
Arabic: وَجَدَ (ar) (wajada)
Armenian: գտնել (hy) (gtnel)
Bulgarian: убежда́вам се (bg) impf (ubeždávam se)
Czech: pokládat za
Danish: finde (da)
Dutch: vinden (nl), van mening zijn dat
Egyptian: (gmj)
Finnish: pitää (fi)
French: trouver (fr)
Galician: coidar (gl)
Hebrew: מצא (he) (matzá)
Italian: trovare (it)
Latin: decernere
Macedonian: наоѓа (naoǵa)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: finne (no)
Nynorsk: finna, finne (nn)
Portuguese: achar (pt)
Russian: находи́ть (ru) impf (naxodítʹ), найти́ (ru) pf (najtí)
Slovak: považovať
Spanish: creer (es), encontrar (es)
Swedish: finna (sv), konstatera (sv)
Tagalog: nahanap
Turkish: bulmak (tr) :
Armenian: գտնել (hy) (gtnel)
Bulgarian: реша́вам (bg) impf (rešávam), изчисля́вам (bg) impf (izčisljávam)
Danish: dømme
Dutch: achten (nl)
Egyptian: (gmj)
Esperanto: juĝi
Estonian: leidma
Finnish: todeta (fi)
Japanese: 評決する (ja) (ひょうけつする, hyōketsu suru)
Latin: arbitrare, arbitror (la)
Macedonian: востановува (vostanovuva), утврдува (utvrduva), констати́ра (konstatíra)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: finne (no)
Nynorsk: finna, finne (nn)
Portuguese: determinar (pt), julgar (pt)
Russian: находи́ть (ru) impf (naxodítʹ), найти́ (ru) pf (najtí)
Spanish: determinar (es), juzgar (es)
Swedish: finna (sv), konstatera (sv) :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

find (plural finds)
* Anything that is found (usually valuable), as objects on an archeological site or a person with talent.
** 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Alarei:Shepard: How did you get these things to your father? Tali: Sometimes I left packages at secure drops in civilized areas. Someone on Pilgrimage would see that it was shipped home. Tali: For very valuable finds, I'd signal home, and Father would send a small ship.
* The act of finding.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)

#### Synonyms

* (anything found): discovery, catch

#### Translations
### Further reading

* “find”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “find”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* NFID

## Danish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /fend/, [fenˀ]
* Rhymes: -end

### Verb

find
* imperative of finde

## Middle English
### Noun

find (plural findes)
* Alternative form of fend

## Old English
### Verb

find
* imperative singular of findan