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I can think of use discoveries as the things which have been found. Is there a way to do that by transforming the word found? Like we can say "things which belong to you" as "your belongings".

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对不起, I think you might mean "things which have been found" and "things which belong to you" – trideceth12 May 23 '11 at 10:19
Updated. Does the word which matter? – Guangnan Cheng May 23 '11 at 23:18
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yes. "Things have been found" is a statement. "Things which have been found" is a noun-phrase. – trideceth12 May 23 '11 at 23:41

3 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

This depends on the context:

findings usually refers to things found through investigation:

finding n. A conclusion reached as a result of an inquiry, investigation, or trial

discoveries implies either facts that one has become aware of, things found by accident or chance, or things found as a result of a process (such as oil discovered by exploration)

discover v.

  1. Find (something or someone) unexpectedly or in the course of a search

  2. Become aware of (a fact or situation)

discovery n. A person or thing discovered

find can be used as a noun in some contexts:

find n. (pl. finds) A discovery of something valuable, typically something of archaeological interest

None of these words would really be appropriate for things found in the normal course of life, for example I keep a shoebox of interesting things I have found on the ground out-and-about. It would not really be correct to call them my findings, nor my discoveries, things I found is probably the best word / phrase to use in this context.

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Yes findings is not used to talk about objects. The noun find can be used, but typically for items of archaeological significance not for everyday things. – z7sg Ѫ May 23 '11 at 11:03
@z7sg ahh yes another good one.. I think the plural of that noun is actually finds. I'll add it to the answer. – trideceth12 May 23 '11 at 11:08
Actually, "findings" is often used in a jewelry/beading context (my girlfriend's influence here...) to describe the structural members of jewelry. – MT_Head May 24 '11 at 0:39
up vote 2 down vote

For things, findings is the correct word, especially in research.

For abandoned children, the word is foundling

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up vote 1 down vote

Try findings. The infinitive for "found" is "find", thus word "findings" is probably what you are looking for.

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Yes, that's it. I was thinking foundings, which is wrong. Thank you. – Guangnan Cheng May 23 '11 at 10:14
@Cheng You're welcome – Philoto May 23 '11 at 10:18

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