bé

Inherited from Latin bene.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈbe]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -e

bé

1. well

• The form ben is used when it precedes the adjective, adverb or verb form that it modifies, and bé is used in all other cases.

bé m (plural béns)

1. good, valuable object
2. satisfactory grade (at school)
3. good (quality of being good)
4. virtue

• bo, bon

• “bé” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “bé”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “bé” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “bé” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• biau

Inherited from Old French bel, from Latin bellus.

IPA^(key): /be/

bé m (feminine belle, plural bés)

1. (Troyen, Rémois, Langrois) beautiful

• Daunay, Jean (1998) Parlers de Champagne : Pour un classement thématique du vocabulaire des anciens parlers de Champagne (Aube - Marne - Haute-Marne)‎^[1] (in French), Rumilly-lés-Vaudes
• Baudoin, Alphonse (1885) Glossaire de la forêt de Clairvaux‎^[2] (in French), Troyes

Onomatopoeic

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɛː]

bé

1. baa (the cry of a sheep)

bé n (indeclinable)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.

• (Latin-script letter names) písmeno; á, bé, cé, dé, é, ef, gé, há, chá, í, jé, ká, el, em, en, ó, pé, kvé, er, es, té, ú, vé, dvojité vé, iks, ypsilon, zet

• IPA^(key): /be/

• Audio:

  (file)

bé m (plural bés)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.

• “bé”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

For pronunciation and definitions of bé – see 買 (“to buy; to purchase”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 買).

• IPA^(key): [ˈbeː]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bé
• Rhymes: -beː

bé

1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.
2. (music) bemol, the sign ♭

   Hypernym: módosítójel

   Coordinate terms: kereszt, kettős kereszt, kettős bé, feloldójel

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, front unrounded harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	bé	bék
accusative	bét	béket
dative	bének	béknek
instrumental	bével	békkel
causal-final	béért	békért
translative	bévé	békké
terminative	béig	békig
essive-formal	béként	békként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	bében	békben
superessive	bén	béken
adessive	bénél	béknél
illative	bébe	békbe
sublative	bére	békre
allative	béhez	békhez
elative	béből	békből
delative	béről	békről
ablative	bétől	béktől
non-attributive possessive - singular	béé	béké
non-attributive possessive - plural	bééi	békéi

Possessive forms of bé
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	bém	béim
2nd person sing.	béd	béid
3rd person sing.	béje	béi
1st person plural	bénk	béink
2nd person plural	bétek	béitek
3rd person plural	béjük	béik

bé

1. (poetic or dialectal) Alternative form of be (“in”)

• (Latin-script letter names) betű; a, á, bé, cé, csé, dé, dzé, dzsé, e, é, eff, gé, gyé, há, i, í, jé, ká, ell, ellipszilon / elly / ejj, emm, enn, enny, o, ó, ö, ő, pé, kú, err, ess, essz, té, tyé, u, ú, ü, ű, vé, dupla vé / vevé, iksz, ipszilon, zé, zsé. (See also: Latin script letters.)

• (letter name): (1): b in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• (adverb): bé in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• bé, partly redirecting to b and be in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

• IPA^(key): /pjɛː/
• Rhymes: -ɛː

bé n (genitive singular bés, nominative plural bé)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.

Declension of bé
n-s	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	bé	béið	bé	béin
accusative	bé	béið	bé	béin
dative	béi	béinu	béum	béunum
genitive	bés	bésins	béa	béanna

• IPA^(key): /bʲeː/

From Old Irish bé, from Proto-Celtic *ben, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn (“woman”).

bé f (genitive singular bé, nominative plural béithe)

1. (literary) woman, maiden
2. beautiful woman
3. muse (inspiration for artist)

• Bé (“Muse”)
• bé choille (“nymph”)
• bé-iasc (“damselfish”)
• folt bé (“maidenhair”)

• bean (“woman”)

From Latin bē.

bé

1. The name of the Latin-script letter b/B.

• (Latin-script letter names) litir; á, bé, cé, dé, é, eif, gé, héis, í, jé, cá, eil, eim, ein, ó, pé, cú, ear, eas, té, ú, vé, wae, ex, yé, zae
• Note: The English names are also widely used by Irish speakers.

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
bé	bhé	mbé
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “bé”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 bé”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “bé”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “bé”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

• IPA^(key): /bʲeː/

From Proto-Celtic *ben, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn (“woman”).

bé f

1. (poetic) woman

   Synonyms: banscál, ben, frac

• bé carna (“harlot”)

• Irish: bé

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• ·bǽ, ·bée

·bé

1. second/third-person singular present subjunctive conjunct of at·tá

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
bé	bé pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/	mbé
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 bé”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

• béé, bééé (etc.)

bé

1. (onomatopoeia) baa (cry of sheep)

   Synonym: mé

From Latin bibō, bibere.

bé

1. to drink

bé m or f (invariable)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.

• (Latin-script letter names) lètra; a, bé, cé, dé, e, ëffe, ge, àcca / àca, i, i lóng, càpa, ëlle, èmme, ènne, o, pé, cu, ërre, ësse, té, u, vé, dópi vé / dópi vu / vu dópi, ics, i gréc / ìpsilon, zéta

bé

1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.

From Old Chinese 庳 (*beʔ) (SV: ti, tì).

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɓɛ˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɓɛ˨˩˦]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɓɛ˦˥]

• Audio (Saigon):

  (file)

bé • (𡮣, 𡭬, 𡮤)

1. small; little; tiny

   Synonym: nhỏ

2. little; very young

   hồi bé ― when I/he/she/we was/were little

bé

1. Short for em bé (“baby”).

bé

1. you, little child
2. (informal) you, young person
3. (informal) you, young girl

• trẻ

• IPA^(key): [ᵐbe]

bé

1. brother