Found vs. Founded

Find

Find as a verb is to spot or get something. It can also mean a discovery or realization.

Find as a noun is usually a discovery of something very important and of great value.

Here are few examples of find –

·         I can’t find my books.

·         I find the theory of relativity very interesting.

·         I find myself totally lost whenever I attend her sessions.

·         Were you able to find the address?

·         Uranium was a very unique find by the scientists.

·         This is a good find. We can work on it.

Found is the past tense (and past participle) of find. Example –

·         I found my books near the staff room.

·         I have found that these things don’t affect me anymore.

·         I finally found my passion to be in writing.

·         She somehow found out about our surprise.

The word ‘find’ originated from the old English “findan”.

Found is also an independent verb (not past of find) which means to start or establish something – like a building, school, company, settlement etc... It can also refer to something that’s based on an idea or feeling. This word comes from the old French fonder and the Latin fundus which means bottom or base.

In this context, we use ‘founded’ as the past tense of found.

·         We founded this organization in 1996 with the aim of educating the poor.

·         The rules of this project have been founded considering the demands of all the stakeholders.

·         The founding ceremony for the hospital went off very smoothly.

·         The foundation for this building was laid down by government officials.

·         She is the founder of two major oil companies.

Quick note - Found vs Fund

Founding is different from funding. While founding means establishing something, funding is a grant or allowance for a specific purpose.

A small exercise to recap the learnings from this article –

I ______ this school in 1987 mainly to teach underprivileged children as I _____ that there was no proper _____ by government for such children, even though they were brilliant and wanted to study!