Shone

/ʃoʊn/ verb

Definition

Past tense of shine; to emit or reflect light brightly.

Etymology

From Old English 'scinan' (to shine or gleam). The past tense in Old English was 'scān,' which evolved into 'shone' in Middle English. It's one of the irregular verbs that English kept from its ancient Germanic roots.

Kelly Says

English has two past tenses for 'shine'—you can say 'shined' or 'shone.' Interestingly, 'shone' is the older form from when English still acted like German, full of irregular verbs. Over centuries, English has been slowly making verbs regular, so future generations might say 'shined' exclusively.

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