• (RP) IPA: /bɪˈlɒŋ/
• (America) enPR: bĭ-lôngʹ, IPA: /bɪˈlɔŋ/
  • (cot-caught) IPA: /bɪˈlɑŋ/

From Middle English belongen, bilongen, from Middle English be- + longen, from Old English langian, equivalent to be- + long.

belong (belongs, present participle belonging; simple past and past participle belonged)

1. (intransitive) To have its proper place.

   Where does this document belong?

   1. (of a person) To be accepted in a group.

      You don’t belong here — get out.

   2. (followed by to) To be a part of a group.

      I don’t belong to them!

2. (intransitive, followed by to) To be part of, or the property of.

   That house belongs to me.

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

     Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.

3. (intransitive, followed by to) To be the spouse or partner of.
4. (intransitive, set theory) (followed by to) To be an element of (a set). The symbol \in means belongs to.

   Suppose x belongs to \mathbb{R}…

5. (obsolete, transitive) To be deserved by.

• French: avoir sa place
• German: hingehören, dazugehören
• Portuguese: pertencer
• Russian: быть «свой
• Spanish: pertenecer

• French: trouver sa place, faire partie, s'intégrer
• German: dazugehören, hingehören
• Portuguese: pertencer
• Spanish: pertenecer

• French: appartenir
• German: dazugehören, gehören
• Portuguese: pertencer
• Russian: принадлежа́ть
• Spanish: pertenecer

• German: gehören zu, gehören
• Italian: appartenere a
• Portuguese: pertencer
• Russian: принадлежа́ть
• Spanish: pertenecer a

• German: ist Element von, sind Element von
• Portuguese: pertencer
• Russian: принадлежа́ть
• Spanish: pertenecer

Compare rop blanga, Bislama blong, Tok Pisin bilong, and tcs blong.

1. (Australian Aboriginal, optionally followed by to) Of, belonging to.
   • 1915, E. R. Masson, Untamed Territory:

     Jim Campbell, Charlie, Dick, ... Fred, lubra b’longa him, me, thass all.

   • 1936, M. & E. Durack, Chunuma:

     By an’ bye ’im grow ’m up make ’m good fella stockman b’longta you.

   • 1977, N. Kolig, Playing Alonga Mud:

     Those who had persevered with the course and had acquired some skill were now almost deferentially called ‘Maban (expert) belonga clay’.

   • 1986, B. Shaw, Countrymen:

     There’s the bloke that’s kill that feller, uncle belong you an me.

   • 1991, D. B. Rose, Hidden Histories:

     Get that fire [wood] stacked up like that tree there, that high ... It wasn’t wood belong to that fire pile. Might be for station, or somebody else, you know.