Taught is the past tense of the verb teach. When you teach someone something today, yesterday you taught them. A teacher who taught you multiplication last year helped you learn and understand it then.

The word describes the act of showing someone how to do something or helping them understand new information. Your parents taught you to tie your shoes. A coach taught the team a new strategy. A friend might have taught you a card game or how to solve a tricky puzzle.

Teaching can involve showing, explaining, answering questions, and checking that someone understands. When someone taught you something, they helped you actually learn it.

You can teach and be taught in formal settings like school, but also in everyday moments. Someone taught by experience has learned from actually doing things and sometimes making mistakes. Being taught a lesson can mean learning something the hard way, like when touching a hot stove taught you to be more careful around heat.