Etymology From Middle English bi cause, from bi (“by”) + cause, modelled on Old French par cause.
1
By or for the cause that; on this account that; for the reason that.
I hid myself because I was afraid.
I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
2 more examples
In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
“Perhaps it is because I have been excommunicated. It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head. Each time that he spoke flippantly of the Church he caused her pain.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
2
As is known, inferred, or determined from the fact that.
It must be broken, because I pressed the button and nothing happened.
I don't think he is a nice person, because he yells at people for no reason.
Simon[…]set the house on fire where he was born, because nobody should point at it.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 2:
And God blessed the seuenth day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his worke, which God created and made.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 2:3:
Etymology From Middle English bi cause, from bi (“by”) + cause, modelled on Old French par cause.
1
Used alone to refuse to provide a full answer to a question begun with "why", usually taken as an anapodoton of the elided full phrase "Because I said so".
because
prep
Etymology From Middle English bi cause, from bi (“by”) + cause, modelled on Old French par cause.
You probably know it better, however, as explanation by way of Internet—explanation that maximizes efficiency and irony in equal measure. I'm late because YouTube. You're reading this because procrastination. As the language writer Stan Carey delightfully sums it up: “‘Because’ has become a preposition, because grammar.”2013 November 19, Megan Garber, “English Has a New Preposition, Because Internet”, in The Atlantic: