belonged

Belonged is the past tense and past participle of the verb belong. Belong means to be the property of someone or to be a member of a group, organization, or place, or to be connected with or relevant to something. The word can indicate ownership, association, or suitability.

Usage examples show its usual patterns. The book belonged to Maria. The house belonged to the family. She belonged to the science club. In these uses, belong is intransitive and followed by a complement introduced with to, or used to indicate membership or affiliation. The present tense form is belong; the past tense is belonged, as in the examples above. The present perfect form, has belonged, is used to express ownership or affiliation that began in the past and continues into the present, e.g., The painting has belonged to the museum since 1998.

Grammatical notes: belong is generally not used in a standard passive construction. Its tenses are formed with auxiliary have or have been in perfect contexts, rather than a passive participle form.

Etymology: belong comes from Old English belangan, formed with be- and a root related to longian (to lie along or be connected). The sense developed to cover possession, membership, and relevance, giving rise to modern uses in many Germanic languages.

See also: belong, belonging, ownership, membership.