betoken
/bɪˈtoʊ.kən/ verb
Forms betokens betokening betokened
- verb (transitive) To signify by some visible object; show by signs or tokens.
- verb (transitive) To foreshow by present signs; indicate something in the future by that which is seen or known.
Synonyms
indicate mark note portend presage forebode bespeak point signal bode auspicate prognosticate omen foreshadow augur foretell prefigure forecast predict
Etymology
From Middle English bitoknen, bitacnen, from Old English betācnian (“to betoken, signify, designate”), from Proto-West Germanic *bitaiknijan. Equivalent to be- + token. Cognate with Dutch betekenen (“to mean, signify”), German bezeichnen (“to call, designate”), Swedish beteckna (“to represent, designate, indicate”) and Danish betegne (“to represent, designate, indicate”).
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “betoken”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details