Burned or Burnt | Meaning, Difference & Examples
Burned and burnt are two different spellings of the past tense of the verb ‘burn’, used to refer to the act of undergoing combustion and the act of injuring someone or damaging something by heat or fire.
The spelling tends to vary based on whether you’re using UK or US English:
- In UK English, both ‘burned’ and ‘burnt’ are commonly used for both the verb and adjective sense of the word.
- In US English, ‘burned’ is standard as a verb, but both ‘burned’ and ‘burnt’ can be used as adjectives.
Gina forgot to turn the oven off, so the chicken was burnt/burned.
The fire burnt/burned all night and kept the room warm.
Luckily, I remembered to blow out the candles; otherwise, the house might have burnt/burned down.
Burned and burnt as adjectives
Burned and burnt can also be used as adjectives meaning ‘injured or damaged by burning’ in both UK and US English. While both are acceptable, burnt is more common.
Burnt out or burned out (at work)
Burnt out and burned out are the past tense forms of the phrasal verb ‘burn out’ used to refer to the act of becoming exhausted due to excessive stress.
Both can also be used as an adjectival phrase meaning ‘worn out’ or ‘exhausted’. It means the same whether it’s written with the regular ‘-ed’ ending or the irregular ‘-t’ ending. The phrase is hyphenated when it’s used in the attributive position (before the noun it applies to).
Emile needs a holiday because he is burnt/burned out.
Burnt-/burned-out employees are more likely to quit.
Burnt out and burned out can also be used interchangeably to more literally describe something that has been destroyed by fire.
The house was burnt/burned out.
Get burned or get burnt
To get burned/get burnt is a phrase used to mean ‘be cheated’ or ‘be insulted’. While both are acceptable, get burned is more common in both UK and US English.
Kyle always insults me. Every time I see him, I get burned/burnt.
Other interesting language articles
If you want to know more about commonly confused words, definitions, and differences between US and UK spellings, make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations, examples, and quizzes.
Confused words
Definitions
US vs. UK spellings
Cite this Scribbr article
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.
Ryan, E. (2023, October 03). Burned or Burnt | Meaning, Difference & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 22 April 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/uk-vs-us/burnt-or-burned/
