student asking question

What does “be born + adjective” mean?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

To be "born + adjective" means that someone was born with a trait, or they have always been that way ever since they were born. So to be "born curious" here means that cats are inherently curious, or in other words, their curiosity was not developed overtime because they are just born with it. Sometimes, this expression doesn't have to mean that someone was a certain way literally at birth, but it can be used to mean that they are always this way now. You can also use "born + noun" in this way. Ex: She was born deaf. Ex: You were born lucky. Ex: I was born to be a star.

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