bast

See also: Bast, bAst, bäst, and bæst

English

Alternative forms

• bass

Etymology

From Middle English bast, from Old English bæst (“bast, inner bark of trees from which ropes were made”), from Proto-Germanic *bastaz (“bast, rope”) (compare the Swedish bast, Dutch bast, German Bast), perhaps an alteration of Proto-Indo-European *bʰask-, *bʰasḱ- (“bundle”) (compare Middle Irish basc (“necklace”), Latin fascis (“bundle”), Albanian bashkë (“tied, linked”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɑːst/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /bæst/

Noun

bast (countable and uncountable, plural basts)

1. Fibre made from the phloem of certain plants and used for matting and cord.
   • 1912, John Galsworthy, Quality:

     [T]here would be seen his face, or that of his elder brother, peering down. A guttural sound, and the tip-tap of bast slippers beating the narrow wooden stairs, and he would stand before one without coat, a little bent, in leather apron, with sleeves turned back, blinking […]

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 19, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.

   • 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 87

     I thought I saw Him in the Long Walk there, by the bed of Nelly Roche, tending a fallen flower with a wisp of bast.

   • 1997: ‘Egil's Saga’, tr. Bernard Scudder, The Sagas of Icelanders, Penguin 2001, page 145

     He had taken along a long bast rope in his sleigh, since it was the custom on longer journeys to have a spare rope in case the reins needed mending.

Related terms

• (possibly) bastard

Translations

fibre made from the phloem of certain plants

• Albanian: barmë (sq) f
• Bashkir: сүс (süs)
• Belarusian: лы́ка n (lýka), луб m (lub)
• Bulgarian: ли́ко (bg) n (líko)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 韌皮 (zh), 韧皮 (zh) (rènpí)

• Czech: lýko (cs) n
• Esperanto: basto
• Finnish: niini (fi)
• Galician: tasco m
• German: Bast (de) m
• Hungarian: háncs (hu)
• Japanese: 靱皮 (じんぴ, jinpi)
• Navajo: azhííh
• Polish: łyko (pl) n

• Portuguese: entrecasca f
• Russian: лы́ко (ru) n (lýko), луб (ru) m (lub), моча́ло (ru) n (močálo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лика f

  Roman: lika (sh) f

• Slovak: lyko (sk) n
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: łyko n

  Upper Sorbian: łyko n

• Swedish: bast (sv) n
• Ukrainian: ли́ко n (lýko), луб m (lub), мачу́ла f (mačúla)

Anagrams

• ABTs, ATBs, ATSB, BTAS, Bats, SATB, STAB, TBAs, TBSA, Tabs, bats, stab, tabs

---

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bast/, [b̥asd̥]

Noun

bast c (singular definite basten, not used in plural form)

1. bast
2. raffia

Inflection

Declension of bast

common gender	Singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	bast	basten
genitive	basts	bastens

---

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɑst/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bast
• Rhymes: -ɑst

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch bast. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Noun

bast f (plural basten, diminutive bastje n)

1. A bark, as on a tree
2. (figuratively) A skin, hide

   Hij liep in zijn blote bast rond.

   He walked around barechested.

Derived terms

• boombast

Etymology 2

Verb

bast

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of bassen
2. (archaic) plural imperative of bassen

References

• M. J. Koenen & J. Endepols, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (tevens Vreemde-woordentolk), Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 (26th edition) [Dutch dictionary in Dutch]

Anagrams

• bats

---

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /past/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse bast (“bast, inner bark of trees from which ropes were made”), from Proto-Germanic *bastaz (“bast, rope”), perhaps an alteration of Proto-Indo-European *bʰask-, *bʰasḱ- (“bundle”).

Noun

bast n (genitive singular basts, uncountable)

1. bast, raffia
2. rope made of bast

Declension

Declension of bast (singular only)
n3s	singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	bast	bastið
accusative	bast	bastið
dative	basti	bastinum
genitive	basts	bastsins

Etymology 2

From the verb at basa.

Verb

bast

1. supine of basa

---

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English bæst, from Proto-Germanic *bastaz.

Alternative forms

• baste

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bast/

Noun

bast (plural bastes)

2. A cord or cable manufactured using bast.
3. (rare) Bast; fibre made from the phloem of plants.

Descendants

• English: bast, bass
• Scots: bass

References

• “bast, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-03.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old French bast (French bât).

Alternative forms

• baste, baaste

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baːst/

Noun

bast (uncountable)

2. Illegitimacy; the state of being illegitimate.

Derived terms

• bastard

References

• “bāst, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-03.

---

Swedish

Etymology 1

From Old Swedish bast, from Old Norse bast, from Proto-Germanic *bastaz. Cognate with English bast and German Bast.

Noun

bast n

1. bast (fibre material)

Declension

Declension of bast
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	bast	bastet	—	—
Genitive	basts	bastets	—	—

Related terms

• bastfiber
• basthud
• bastkjol
• bastkorg
• bastmatta
• lindbast

Etymology 2

From Tavringer Romani bassj, bassjt, from Romani berś. Cognate to Sanskrit वर्ष (varṣa, “year”).

Noun

bast n

1. year (when telling age)

   Mina ungar är fem respektive tre bast.

   My kids are five and three years old respectively.

References

• bast in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• bast in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Gerd Carling (2005), “bast”, in Romani i svenskan: Storstadsslang och standardspråk, Stockholm: Carlsson, →ISBN, page 73

Anagrams

• stab