big
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From northern Middle English dialect big, bigge (“‘powerful, strong’”), of uncertain origin, possibly from a dialect of Old Norse.
[edit] Pronunciation
- IPA: /bɪɡ/
- Audio (US)help, file
- Rhymes: -ɪɡ
[edit] Adjective
big (comparative bigger, superlative biggest)
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Positive |
- Of a great size; large; the weakest sense of great size.
- Elephants are big animals, and they eat a lot.
- Of an industry or other field: Thought to have undue influence.
- There were concerns about the ethics of big science.
- Popular.
- That style is very big right now in Europe, especially among teenagers.
- (informal) Adult.
- Kids should get help from big people if they want to use the kitchen.
- (informal) Fat.
- Gosh, she is big!
- (informal) Important or significant.
- What's so big about that? I do it all the time.
- (informal) (construed with on) Enthusiastic (about).
- I'm not big on the idea, but if you want to go ahead with it, I won't stop you.
[edit] Synonyms
- (of a great size): ample, huge, large, sizeable, jumbo, massive
- (adult): adult, fully grown, grown up
- See also Wikisaurus:big
[edit] Antonyms
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
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[edit] Noun
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Singular |
Plural |
big (plural bigs)
- An important or powerful person; a celebrity; a big name.
[edit] Anagrams
[edit] Dutch
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
big m. and f. (plural biggen, diminutive biggetje, diminutive plural biggetjes)
[edit] Irish
[edit] Pronunciation
- IPA: [bʲɪɟ]
[edit] Adjective
big
- Genitive singular masculine of beag.
| Irish mutation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis | |
| big | bhig | mbig | |
| Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
|||
[edit] Italian
[edit] Noun
big m. inv.
[edit] Scots
[edit] Etymology
From Old Norse byggja (“‘inhabit, build’”).
[edit] Pronunciation
- IPA: /bɪɡ/
[edit] Verb
tae big (third-person singular simple present bigs, present participle biggin, simple past biggit, past participle biggit)
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Infinitive |
Third person singular |
Simple past |
Past participle |
Present participle |
- to build
[edit] Torres Strait Creole
[edit] Etymology
From English big, cognate with (the first part of) Bislama bikfala, bigfala, Pijin bigfala, Tok Pisin bikpela.
[edit] Adjective
big
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Western Apache
[edit] Pronunciation
- IPA: [pɪ̀k]
[edit] Etymology
From Proto-Athabascan *-wə̓t̕.
Cognates: Navajo -bid, Plains Apache -bid.
[edit] Noun
big (inalienable, e.g., shibig "my belly", bibig "her/his/their belly")
[edit] Usage notes
- The form -big occurs in the White Mountain varieties; -bid occurs in San Carlos and Dilze’eh (Tonto).
![O29 [aA] aA](/w/extensions/wikihiero/img/hiero_O29.png)
![G1 [A] A](/w/extensions/wikihiero/img/hiero_G1.png)
