Born - an adjective/verb/passive voice

I think it helps to look at the etymology of born.

Old English boren, alternative past participle of beran (see bear (v.)). "In modern use the connexion with bear is no longer felt; the phrase to be born has become virtually an intr. verb" [OED].

So it's origin is as a past participle, such as used in the passive voice, and that is strictly speaking the form it still has, but today when I say 'I was born in London' I don't usely think of it in the sense of 'my mother bore me' or 'I was born(e) in London by my mother'. That's what the OED mean by"virtually an intransitive verb".

On your other links: Cambridge talks of 'to be born' as the verb, which is ok. The Quora link says 'it is used' as an adjective. They mean it in the way a participle derived from a verb can be used as an adjective (e.g. I am tired).

As for the reverso link, it doesn't look right to me at all. I'd almost speculate that it's some kind of computer-generated table based on 'to burn'.


Born can either be thought of as an adjective or as a verb that can only be used passively, or it's the past participle of the verb bear as in:

transitive verb

1a : to accept or allow oneself to be subjected to especially without giving way
//couldn't bear the pain
// I can't bear seeing you cry

...

2a : to move while holding up and supporting (something)

...

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bear

That Reverso page is nonsense. Because born can only be used in passive constructions (or perhaps because it's an adjective) uses like "I born," "I borned," "I am borning" - actually every single example on that page - are always incorrect.