bête
French
Etymology
From Middle French beste, from Old French beste, probably partially borrowed from Classical Latin bēstia (“beast”), or less likely from an alternative Vulgar Latin bēsta (“animal”). Compare biche (probably from Old French bisse, itself from Vulgar Latin bīstia; compare Italian biscia).
Pronunciation
Noun
bête f (plural bêtes)
Synonyms
- (beast): animal
Derived terms
Derived terms
Descendants
- Haitian Creole: bèt
Adjective
bête (plural bêtes)
- (offensive) Not very bright and lacking in judgement; stupid; inept.
- Which could have been easily averted; silly.
- (Canada, informal) Having a bad character or in a bad mood; showing great displeasure in interacting with people; ill-tempered.
- 1999, Chrystine Brouillet, Les Fiancées de l'Enfer, →ISBN, page 69:
- Je dis ça, mais depuis quelques semaines elle est moins bête. Même avec moi — I say that, but these last few weeks she hasn’t been as nasty [lit: "less of a beast"]. Even with me.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Quotations
Synonyms
- (stupid): idiot
Related terms
Related terms
References
- “bête”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Further reading
- “bête”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Norman
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old French beste, from Latin bēstia.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /beit/, /bøit/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "Saint Ouen" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /bɛːt/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "Sark" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /bwɛːt/
Audio (Jersey): (file)
Noun
bête f (plural bêtes)
Adjective
bête m or f
Categories:
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Latin
- French terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns
- French adjectives
- French offensive terms
- Canadian French
- French informal terms
- French terms with quotations
- Norman terms inherited from Old French
- Norman terms derived from Old French
- Norman terms derived from Latin
- Norman terms with IPA pronunciation
- Norman terms with audio links
- Norman lemmas
- Norman nouns
- Norman feminine nouns
- Jersey Norman
- Guernsey Norman
- Norman adjectives