Carried

Carried is the past tense and past participle of the verb carry. It denotes having borne or supported something, moved it from one location to another, or held a responsibility or burden. The term can be literal, as in “The box was carried upstairs,” or figurative, as in “She carried the team to victory” or “The weight of responsibility was carried by the leader.” In use, carried can describe physical transport, emotional or financial burdens, or privileges and duties that are borne over time.

In arithmetic and computing, carry refers to a carry operation. When adding multi-digit numbers, a carry occurs when a sum in a given place exceeds the base, with the excess carried to the next higher place. In computer architecture, the carry flag records this event and is essential for multi-word or multi-precision arithmetic, including binary addition used by processors.

In genetics, carried is used to describe a carrier—an individual who possesses a recessive allele but does not show the associated trait. Carriers can pass the allele to offspring, who may express the trait if they inherit a second copy. The concept is central to understanding autosomal recessive inheritance patterns and related genetic counseling.

In sports, carried is commonly used to describe a ball carrier or rushing play in which a player advances the ball. Statistics may note the number of times a player carried the ball on rushing attempts, reflecting a team’s ground game.

Etymology traces carried to the Old French porter, from Latin portare, with cognates found in many related languages.