bé

See also: Appendix:Variations of "be"

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin bene.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -e

Adverb

bé

1. well

Usage notes

• 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.

Derived terms

• ara bé
• ben bé
• benestar
• o bé

Noun

bé m (plural béns)

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

Related terms

• bo, bon

Further reading

• “bé”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
• “bé”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “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.

Champenois

Alternative forms

• biau

Etymology

Inherited from Old French bel, from Latin bellus.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /be/

Adjective

bé m (feminine belle, plural bés)

1. (Troyen, Rémois, Langrois) beautiful

References

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

Czech

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɛː]

Interjection

bé

1. baa (the cry of a sheep)

Derived terms

• bečet

Etymology 2

Noun

bé n (indeclinable)

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

Derived terms

• béčko

See also

• (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

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /be/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

bé m (plural bés)

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

Further reading

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

Hokkien

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

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbeː]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bé
• Rhymes: -beː

Etymology 1

Noun

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

Declension

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

Derived terms

Expressions

• kettős bé

Etymology 2

Adverb

bé

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

Derived terms

• bé- (verbal prefix, alternative form of be-)

See also

• (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.)

Further reading

• (letter name): (1): b in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
• (adverb): bé in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (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).

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pjɛː/
• Rhymes: -ɛː

Noun

bé n (genitive singular bés, nominative plural bé)

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

Declension

Declension of bé (neuter)

	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

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʲeː/

Etymology 1

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

Noun

bé f (genitive singular bé, nominative plural béithe)

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

Declension

Declension of bé (fourth declension)

bare forms singular plural nominative bé béithe vocative a bhé a bhéithe genitive bé béithe dative bé béithe forms with the definite article singular plural nominative an bhé na béithe genitive na bé na mbéithe dative leis an mbé don bhé leis na béithe

Derived terms

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

Related terms

• bean (“woman”)

Etymology 2

From Latin bē.

Noun

bé

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

See also

• (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.

Mutation

Mutated forms of bé

radical	lenition	eclipsis
bé	bhé	mbé

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• 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, 2013–2025

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʲeː/

Etymology 1

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

Noun

bé f

1. (poetic) woman

   Synonyms: banscál, ben, frac

Derived terms

• bé carna (“harlot”)

Descendants

• Irish: bé

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Alternative forms

• ·bǽ, ·bée

Verb

·bé

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

Mutation

Mutation of bé

radical	lenition	nasalization
bé	bé pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/	mbé

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

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

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• béé, bééé (etc.)

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ/

Interjection

bé

1. (onomatopoeia) baa (cry of sheep)

   Synonym: mé

Romagnol

Etymology

From Latin bibō, bibere.

Verb

bé

1. to drink

Noun

bé m or f (invariable)

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

See also

• (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

Tetum

Noun

bé

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

Vietnamese

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Saigon):

  (file)

Adjective

bé • (𡮣, 𡭬, 𡮤)

1. small; little; tiny

   Synonym: nhỏ

   Antonyms: lớn, to

2. little; very young

   Synonym: nhỏ

   Antonyms: lớn, to

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

3. (of sound) small, barely audible

   Synonym: nhỏ

   Antonyms: lớn, to

Derived terms

• bé bỏng (từ láy)
• bé nhỏ
• bé tí
• bé tị
• bé xíu
• cô bé
• em bé
• nhỏ bé

Noun

bé

1. Short for em bé (“baby”).
2. (informal, men's speech) girl; chick

Derived terms

• bé bi

Pronoun

bé

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

See also

• trẻ

Xârâcùù

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ᵐbe]

Noun

bé

1. brother