"B" Word Origins

benevolence

Latin

From Latin benevolentia, "good will," combining bene ("well") and volens ("wishing") — from the same root as "voluntary" and "volunteer."

benevolent

Latin

From Old French benevolent, from Latin benevolens, "wishing well" — literally bene ("well") plus volens ("wishing").

Bengal

Portuguese

Via Portuguese Bengala, ultimately from a Persian and Bengali name linked to the old Vanga Kingdom.

Bengali

Origin

Formed from Bengal plus the suffix -i, matching the pattern seen in the Bengali word for the language itself.

Benghazi

Arabic

From an Arabic name recorded historically as "port of ibn Ghazi," referring to a local Muslim holy man.

Benidorm

Origin

Borrowed from Valencian Benidorm.

benighted

Origin

From benight + -ed.

benightedness

Origin

From benighted + -ness.

benign

Latin

From Old French benigne, from Latin benignus, combining bene ("well") and genus ("kind, sort") — literally "of good nature."

benignant

Origin

From benign + -ant, on the model of malignant.

benim

Origin

From Middle English benimen, from Old English beniman, from Proto-West Germanic *bineman, from Proto-Germanic *binemaną (“to take away”). Equivalent to be- (“off, away”) + nim. Compare German benehmen.

Benin

Portuguese · 1490

From Portuguese Benim, itself from an Itsekiri name for the Benin Kingdom, first recorded in the 1490s.

benjamin

Hebrew

From the Hebrew name Binyamin, meaning "son of the right hand."

Benjie

Origin

Formed from Benjamin plus the affectionate suffix -ie.

Benjy

Origin

Formed from Benjamin plus the affectionate suffix -y.

Bennet

Origin

A variant spelling of Bennett, tracing back to Benedict, "blessed."

Bennett

Origin

A patronymic surname formed from Benedict, "blessed," passed down through generations.

Bennie

Origin

A pet-name form built with the affectionate suffix -ie.

benny

Origin

From ben(zedrine) plus the suffix -y, originally coined as slang for the stimulant drug.

Benoit

Latin

Borrowed directly from French Benoît, itself from Latin Benedictus, "blessed."

benothing

Origin

From be- + nothing.

Benson

Old English

From Old English Benesingtūn, the source of the Oxfordshire village name Benson.

bent

Middle English

From the past-tense and past-participle forms of Middle English benden, "to bend."

benthon

Origin

From benth- + -on.

Bentley

Old English

From Old English Beonetlēah, combining bent ("bent-grass") and lēah ("meadow, clearing").

bento

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese bentō, referring to the traditional lacquered lunchbox.

Benton

Old English

From Old English elements meaning either "bean" or "bent-grass," plus tūn, "settlement" or "enclosure."

Benz

German

From the German surname Benz, after Karl Benz, a pioneer of the automobile and co-founder of what became Mercedes-Benz.

benzene

German · 1872

Coined in German from Benzin, itself based on Benzoesäure ("benzoic acid"), with the chemical suffix -ene added when the compound was renamed in English in 1872.

benzol

Origin

From benzo- + -ol (“oil”).

Beowulf

Old English

From Old English Bēowulf, likely combining bee and wulf ("wolf") — possibly a poetic way of saying "bear," i.e., "bee-hunter."

bequeath

Old English

From Old English becweþan, "to declare, to leave by will," built from be- plus cweþan ("to say").

bequest

Old English

From Middle English biqueste, formed from be- plus an Old English root meaning "saying" — related to "quoth," not to "quest."

ber

Hindi

Borrowed from Hindi ber.

berate

Origin

From be- (an intensifying prefix) plus rate, an old verb meaning "to scold" — so berate literally means to rate someone down hard.

beray

Origin

From be- + ray (“to defile”), from Middle English rayen, an aphetic form of array.

Berber

Ancient Greek

From Arabic barbariyy ("Berber"), which traces back to the Ancient Greek word for "foreigner" — the same root that gives us "barbarian."

bereave

Origin

Inherited from Middle English bireven, from Old English berēafian (“to bereave, deprive of, take away, seize, rob, despoil”), from Proto-Germanic *biraubōną, and Old English berēofan (“to bereave, deprive, rob of”); both equivalent to be- + reave. Cognate with Dutch beroven (“to rob, deprive, bereave”), German berauben (“to deprive, rob, bereave”), Danish berøve (“to deprive of”), Norwegian berøve (“to deprive”), Swedish beröva (“to rob”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌱𐍉𐌽 (biraubōn).

bereavement

Origin

Built from the verb bereave ("to deprive of, especially by death") plus the noun-forming suffix -ment.

bereft

Origin

An old past-tense form of "bereave," related to the words leave and left.

Berenice

Greek

From Greek Berenike, meaning "bringer of victory".

Beresford

Old English

Habitational surname from a minor place in Staffordshire, from Old English befer (“beaver”) + ford (“ford”). The town in New Brunswick is named after military officer and politician William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford (1768 - 1854).

beret

Late Latin

From French béret, tracing back through Occitan and Late Latin words for a hooded cloak.

berg

Germanic

Berg is simply a shortened form of "iceberg"; the word ultimately comes from a Germanic root meaning "mountain."

bergen

Norwegian

Shortened from "Bergen rucksack," likely named after its Norwegian creator, and linked to the city of Bergen in Norway.

Bering

Danish

The verb is unrelated to the geographic name; the Bering Sea and Strait are instead named after the Danish-born navigator Vitus Bering, who explored the region for the Russian Navy.

Berk

Origin

* As a Dutch, Czech, and Polish surname, from a Germanic personal name stemming from Proto-Germanic *berô (“bear”). Also see Bernhard. * As a Dutch and north German surname, from the word for birch tree, from Proto-West Germanic *berku. * As a Jewish surname, spelling variant of Berg.

Berkeley

Old English

From Old English beorc (“birch”) + leah (“meadow, leigh”). Equivalent to birch + -ley (“lea”).