"B" Word Origins

befuddlement

Origin

From befuddle + -ment.

beg

Old English

Comes from Middle English beggen, a word of murky origin possibly connected to Old English roots meaning "to petition" or "to pray" — ultimately related to the verb "bid."

began

Old English

Past tense of begin, from Old English beginnan 'to attempt, undertake'.

begather

Origin

From be- + gather. Cognate with Middle Dutch begaderen.

beget

Old English

From Old English beġietan ("to get"), from a Germanic root meaning to find or seize; the be- prefix intensifies the plain verb "get."

beggar

Middle English

From Middle English beggere, formed from "beg" plus the agent suffix "-ar/-er" — someone who begs.

beggarly

Origin

From beggar + -ly; adverb via Middle English beggarly, beggerly.

begging

Middle English

From Middle English begging, beggyng, beggynge, equivalent to beg + -ing (gerund ending).

beghast

Origin

From be- + ghast. Cognate with German begeistern (“to inspire, excite, thrill”).

begin

Old English

From Old English beginnan, built from the prefix be- attached to an old Germanic verb root meaning "to open" or "to start."

beginner

Origin

Formed from "begin" plus the agent suffix "-er" — someone who is (just) beginning.

beginning

Middle English

From Middle English biginning, simply "begin" plus the noun-forming suffix "-ing."

beglammer

Origin

From be- + glammer, Scottish variant of glamour (“to bewitch”), equivalent to be- + glamour.

begone

Origin

A fusion of "be" and "gone" — literally telling someone to "be gone," i.e., to leave at once.

begrasp

Origin

From be- (“around, about, completely”) + grasp.

begrieve

Origin

From be- (“around, about, over”) + grieve.

begrime

Origin

From be- (prefix meaning ‘about; abundantly; all around; all over’) + grime (“to cake with dirt”).

begrip

Origin

From be- + grip. Compare begripe.

begripe

Origin

From Middle English begripen, bigripen, from Old English begrīpan (“to grip, seize, lay hold of; chide”), from Proto-West Germanic *bigrīpan. Equivalent to be- (“around, about”) + gripe.

begrudge

Middle English

From Middle English bigrucchen, meaning "to grumble at" — built from be- plus an old word related to "grudge."

beguile

Origin

From Middle English begilen, begylen; equivalent to be- + guile. Compare Middle Dutch begilen (“to beguile”). Doublet of bewile.

begum

Persian

Borrowed from Persian and Turkic languages into South Asian usage as a female honorific, roughly equivalent to "lady" or "madam" for women of rank.

Begun

Russian

Two possible origins: * Borrowed from Russian бегу́н (begún, “runner”), a nickname used in the local Jewish community. Doublet of Biegun and Bihun, from Polish and Ukrainian respectively. * A variant of Begum, an Indian surname found in the Muslim community.

behalf

Old English

From Old English bī healfe, literally "by the side of" — the idea of standing at someone's side, representing them.

behallow

Origin

From be- + hallow.

behave

Middle English

From Middle English behaven, built from be- plus "have," in the old sense of "to hold or contain oneself."

behavior

Old French

From Middle English behavour, formed from "behave" plus a suffix borrowed by analogy from the older word "havour" (meaning possessions or conduct), itself from Old French avoir ("to have").

behavioural

Origin

From behaviour + -al.

behead

Old English

From Old English behēafdian, built from be- plus "head," meaning literally to remove the head.

beheading

Origin

From behead + -ing.

behear

Origin

From be- (“at, about”) + hear. Cognate with Scots behere, behear (“to hear, hear our cry”), West Frisian beheare (“to administer; manage”), Dutch behoren (“to belong”).

behedge

Origin

From be- + hedge; compare Old English behegian and Dutch beheggen (“to put a hedge around, behedge”).

behemoth

Hebrew

From Hebrew behemot, a giant beast described in the Book of Job, itself likely an intensive plural of the Hebrew word for "beast."

behest

Old English

From Old English behǣs ("vow, promise"), which merged in meaning over time with the sense of a command or order.

behind

Old English

From Old English behindan, built from be- plus "hind," an old word for the back part of something.

behold

Old English

From Old English behealdan, meaning "to hold, keep watch on, or observe," built from be- plus "hold."

beholden

Origin

Originally the past participle of "behold," it drifted over time to mean "obligated" rather than "seen."

beholder

Origin

From "behold" plus the agent suffix "-er" — one who beholds.

behoove

Origin

See behove.

beige

French

Borrowed from French beige, originally describing the natural, undyed colour of raw wool or cotton.

Beijing

Chinese

From Mandarin Chinese Běijīng, meaning "northern capital," named to contrast with the southern city of Nanjing ("southern capital").

bein

Middle English

From Middle English been/bene ("pleasant, generous"), possibly linked to Old Norse beinn ("straight, favourable").

being

Middle English

From Middle English being, formed from the verb "be" plus the noun-forming suffix "-ing."

beinghood

Origin

From being + -hood.

beingless

Origin

From being + -less.

beingness

Origin

Calque of German Seiendheit, equivalent to English being + -ness. Occasionally also used to translate German Sein (“being”).

Beirut

Arabic

Traced back through Arabic and Ottoman Turkish to a Phoenician word believed to mean "wells."

beka

Hebrew

From Hebrew beqa, meaning "half-shekel" — literally "broken," since it was half of a whole shekel.