From Middle English bi cause, from bi ("by") + cause, modelled on Old French par cause.

• • (British) IPA: /bɪˈkɒz/, /bɪˈkʌz/
  • (British, dated) IPA: /bɪˈkɔːz/
  • (America) IPA: /biˈkɔz/, /biˈkʌz/, /bəˈkɔz/, /bəˈkʌz/, /bɪˈkɔz/, /bɪˈkʌz/
  • (New England, obsolete) IPA: /bɪˈkeɪz/
  • IPA: /bɪkəz/

because (not comparable)

1. For the reason (that).
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Genesis 2:3 ↗:

     And God blessed the seuenth day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his worke, which God created and made.

2. On account (of), for sake (of).

   My life is ruined because of you!

• French: à cause de, parce que, à cause que
• German: wegen
• Italian: perché, poiché, siccome
• Portuguese: porque, pois, que, por causa de, devido a
• Russian: и́з-за
• Spanish: por, debido a, a causa de

1. Used alone to refuse to provide a full answer a question begun with "why", usually taken as an anapodoton of the elided full phrase "Because I said so".

• French: parce que c'est comme ça, parce que
• German: deshalb, darum, deswegen
• Italian: perché sì
• Portuguese: porque sim (positive), porque não (negative)
• Russian: потому́ что
• Spanish: porque sí (positive), porque no (negative)

1. By or for the cause that; on this account that; for the reason that.

   I hid myself because I was afraid.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

     I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:

     “Perhaps it is because I have been excommunicated. It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.”  ¶ She winced and bowed her head. Each time that he spoke flippantly of the Church he caused her pain.

2. As is known, inferred, or determined from the fact that.

   It must be broken, because I pressed the button and nothing happened.

   I don't think he is a nice person, because he yells at people for no reason.

3. (obsolete) So that, in order that. [15th]
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC ↗, partition II, section 3, member 2:

     Simon […] set the house on fire where he was born, because nobody should point at it.

• (for the reason that) therefore, since, for, for that, forthy, for sake, forwhy (obsolete), as, inasmuch as, sith (obsolete), ∵ (mathematics symbol); see also Thesaurus:because

• French: parce que, car, à cause que
• German: weil, denn, da
• Italian: perché
• Portuguese: porque, já que
• Russian: потому́ что
• Spanish: porque, ya que, por cuanto

• German: denn
• Portuguese: porque
• Russian: потому́ что
• Spanish: ya que, por cuanto

1. (colloquial, internet slang) On account of, because of. [from 20th c. or before]

   He rejected me because revenge, I guess.

   It doesn't work because reasons.