had

Meanings

1. simple past and past participle of have
2. Used to form the past perfect tense, expressing an action that took place prior to a reference point that is itself in the past.
3. As past subjunctive: would have.

Etymology

From Middle English hadde (preterite), yhad (past participle), from Old English hæfde (first and third person singular preterite), ġehæfd (past participle), from Proto-Germanic *habdaz, past and past participle stem of *habjaną (“to have”), equivalent to have + -ed. Cognate with Dutch had, German hatte, Swedish hade, Icelandic hafði.