besoin

French

Etymology

From Middle French, Old French besoing; can be seen as a masculine variant of besogne, from Old French besonge, from Old Frankish *bisunnija, from *sunnijōn (“to look after”) (whence soigner), possibly through a Vulgar Latin intermediate *bisonium. Compare Italian bisogno.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bə.zwɛ̃/

• audio:

  (file)

Noun

besoin m (plural besoins)

1. need
2. want (state of being in need)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• au besoin
• avoir besoin de

• si besoin est
• s'il est besoin

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Bosnie