behind

UK/bɪˈhaɪnd/US/ˈbiˌhaɪnd/

prepositionA16 meanings One of the most common words in English · #251 of 15,258neutral

Behind means at the back of something. The bin behind the shed, the person behind you in the queue, the sun sliding behind a cloud.

Behind works as an adverb too — stay behind, leave your umbrella behind, look behind you. It handles time and progress: behind schedule, behind with the rent, two goals behind, behind the rest of the class. It marks support (the whole town is behind her) and hidden cause (the man behind the plan, the reason behind the decision). English is thick with its phrases: behind someone's back, behind bars, behind the scenes, put it behind you. And informally your behind is your bottom, a mild and slightly childish word for it.

Definitions of behind

1prepositionbehindAt or towards the back of someone or something.A1~58%
“The car behind us flashed its lights twice.”
2prepositionlaterLater than planned, or less advanced than others.B1~21%
“We are two weeks behind on the building work.”
3prepositionsupportingSupporting someone or something.B2~2%
“The whole department is behind the proposal.”
4prepositionresponsibleResponsible for something without being seen.B2~13%
“Nobody knows who was behind the leak.”
5adverbplaceIn or towards the place someone has left.A2~4%
“He left his coat behind on the train.”
6nounbottomA person's bottom.B1~2%
“She slipped on the step and landed on her behind.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 23 sentences found in the wild and placed 23 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

Phrases it lives in

behind someone's back — without that person knowing
behind the scenes — out of public view, where the real work happens
put something behind you — stop letting a bad experience affect you

Where it comes from

Behind is Old English behindan, 'on the back side of', from an older West Germanic form, and it comes apart into be and hind. Hind is still in plain view in the hind legs of an animal and in hindsight, which is the view of what is already behind you.

Proto-West Germanic
*bihindan
Old English
behindan — on the back side of, behind
Middle English
behinde
English, today
behind

Built from

*bihindini · Proto-West Germanic — on the back side of, in the rear of, behind
*hindō · Proto-West Germanic — the hind side, back part

From Middle English behinde, behinden, from Old English behindan (“on the back side of, behind”), from Proto-West Germanic bihindan, bihindini (“on the back side of, in the rear of, behind”), from Proto-West Germanic bi- + hindō (“the hind side, back part”), equivalent to be + hind. Compare Old Saxon bihindan (“behind”), Middle High German behinter (“behind; back”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Directions & Position

Practise this word

behind in the wild

Although Gladio specifically refers to the Italian branch of the NATO stay-behind organizations, Operation Gladio is used as an informal name for all of them.
Operation Gladio
You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat.
Monty Hall problem
When the player first makes their choice, there is a 2/3 chance that the car is behind one of the doors not chosen.
Monty Hall problem
A net is attached to the back of the frame to catch pucks that enter the goal and also to prevent pucks from entering it from behind.
Goal (ice hockey)
A crossing loop previously ran behind Platform 2 but this has now been taken out of use.
Branxton railway station

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

Definitions of behind

1prepositionbehindAt or towards the back of someone or something.A1~58%

“The car behind us flashed its lights twice.”

2prepositionlaterLater than planned, or less advanced than others.B1~21%

“We are two weeks behind on the building work.”

3prepositionsupportingSupporting someone or something.B2~2%

“The whole department is behind the proposal.”

4prepositionresponsibleResponsible for something without being seen.B2~13%

“Nobody knows who was behind the leak.”

5adverbplaceIn or towards the place someone has left.A2~4%

“He left his coat behind on the train.”

6nounbottomA person's bottom.B1~2%

“She slipped on the step and landed on her behind.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 23 sentences found in the wild and placed 23 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.