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taken

tak·en/ˈteɪ.kn̩/adjective, verb

taken is spelled T-A-K-E-N: 5 letters and 2 syllables (tak·en). It appears 214 times per million words in written English, the 471st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, taken means “Infatuated; fond of or attracted to” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in taken?

Letters5: T-A-K-E-N
Syllables2: tak·en
In writing214 times per million words; the 471st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is taken?

Taken appears 214 times per million words in written English, the 471st most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce taken?

  • /ˈteɪ.kn̩/

Taken has 2 syllables, split tak·en in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-taken.wav, En-us-taken.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with taken

Also written: tane.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What does taken mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Infatuated; fond of or attracted to.

    He was very taken with the girl, I hear.

  2. 2

    informalIn a serious romantic relationship.

    I can't ask her out, she's taken.

verb

  1. 1

    past participle of take (a form of take)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Taken in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanergriffen, eingenommen (infatuated, fond of or attracted to), vergeben (informal: in a relationship)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does taken come from?

From Middle English taken, takenn, from Old English tacen, *ġetacen, from Old Norse tekinn, from Proto-Germanic *tēkanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *tēkaną (“to take; grasp; touch”). Cognate with Scots takin, tane, Danish tagen, Swedish tagen, Icelandic tekin. Morphologically take + -n.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after taken