bi

See also: Appendix:Variations of "bi"

English

Etymology 1

From bisexual

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: bye, buy, by

Adjective

bi (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Bisexual.

Translations

bisexual

• Finnish: bi (fi)
• French: bi (fr) m, f
• German: bi (de)
• Italian: bisex

• Japanese: バイ (ja) (bai)
• Portuguese: gilete (pt) m
• Swedish: bi (sv)

Noun

bi (plural bis)

1. (colloquial) A bisexual.

   I'm hetero, but my oldest sister is bi.

See also

• bi-

Etymology 2

Mandarin 璧 (bì)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: bye, buy, by

Noun

bi (plural bi)

1. A type of jade disk produced in ancient China.

See also

• Bi (jade) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Bi (jade)

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Amuzgo

Adjective

bi

1. green

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Basque

Basque cardinal numbers

<  1	2	3  >
Cardinal : bi     Ordinal : bigarren

Numeral

bi

1. two

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Danish

Wikipedia ^daWikipedia ^da

Etymology

From Old Norse bý, from Proto-Germanic *bijō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰī-.

Noun

bi c (singular definite bien, plural indefinite bier)

1. bee

Inflection

Inflection of bi

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	bi	bien	bier	bierne
genitive	bis	biens	biers	biernes

See also

• hveps c

Verb

bi

1. Imperative of bie.

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Dutch

Etymology

From biseksueel.

Adjective

bi (invariable, comparative meer bi, superlative meest bi)

1. (colloquial) bisexual

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French

Etymology

From bissexuel, or possibly directly from English bi

Noun

bi m, f (plural bis)

1. bi, bisexual person

Adjective

bi m, f (invariable)

1. bi, bisexual

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Gothic

Romanization

bi

1. Romanization of 𐌱𐌹

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Isthmus Zapotec

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbì]

Noun

bi

1. wind

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Japanese

Romanization

bi

1. rōmaji reading of び
2. rōmaji reading of ビ

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Kurdish

Preposition

bi

1. by

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Lojban

Lojban cardinal numbers

<  ze	bi	so  >
Cardinal : bi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi/

Cmavo

bi (rafsi biv)

1. eight

   le bi gerku

   the eight dogs

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Low German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biː/

Etymology

From Old Saxon bī, from Proto-Germanic *bi.

Preposition

bi

1. at, with

   Bi us is dat ümmer Feest.

   With us it's always a party.

2. by

   Wi wahnt in en Huus bi de Meer.

   I live in a house by the lake.

3. around, about (often in combination with üm)

   Dat weer üm bi so'n twintig Johr vör.

   It was about twenty years ago.

Inflection

Pronominal adverbs of bi

preposition	bi
postpositional adv.	bi
+ her (hither)	—
+ düt (this)	hierbi
+ dat (that)	dorbi
+ wat (what)	worbi
+ wat (something)	enerwegens bi
+ nix (nothing)	nargends bi
+ allens (everything)	överall bi

Adverb

bi

1. alongside, with
2. in order to adjust or improve

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Mandarin

Romanization

bi

1. Nonstandard spelling of bī.
2. Nonstandard spelling of bí.
3. Nonstandard spelling of bǐ.
4. Nonstandard spelling of bì.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

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Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch bi, from Proto-Germanic *bi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biː/

Preposition

bi

1. by, near, around
2. beside, alongside
3. at, with
4. among
5. during

Adverb

bi

1. by, near, around

Descendants

• Dutch: bij

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Middle English

Etymology

From Old English bi.

Preposition

bi

1. by
   • 1407, The Testimony of William Thorpe, pages 40–41

     And I seide, “Ser, in his tyme maister Ioon Wiclef was holden of ful many men the grettis clerk that thei knewen lyuynge vpon erthe. And therwith he was named, as I gesse worthili, a passing reuli man and an innocent in al his lyuynge. And herfore grete men of kunnynge and other also drowen myche to him, and comownede ofte with him. And thei sauouriden so his loore that thei wroten it bisili and enforsiden hem to rulen hem theraftir… Maister Ion Aston taughte and wroot acordingli and ful bisili, where and whanne and to whom he myghte, and he vsid it himsilf, I gesse, right perfyghtli vnto his lyues eende. Also Filip of Repintoun whilis he was a chanoun of Leycetre, Nycol Herforde, dane Geffrey of Pikeringe, monke of Biland and a maistir dyuynyte, and Ioon Purueye, and manye other whiche weren holden rightwise men and prudent, taughten and wroten bisili this forseide lore of Wiclef, and conformeden hem therto. And with alle these men I was ofte homli and I comownede with hem long tyme and fele, and so bifore alle othir men I chees wilfulli to be enformed bi hem and of hem, and speciali of Wiclef himsilf, as of the moost vertuous and goodlich wise man that I herde of owhere either knew. And herfore of Wicleef speciali and of these men I toke the lore whiche I haue taughte and purpose to lyue aftir, if God wole, to my lyues ende.”

Descendants

• English: by

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Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *bi.

Preposition

bī

1. by, near
2. at, with

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: bi
  • Dutch: bij

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Old English

Alternative forms

• be

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *bi (“near, by, around, about”), from Proto-Germanic *umbi (“around”), from Proto-Indo-European *ambʰi (“around”). Akin to Old High German bī "near, by" (German bei), Dutch bij, Gothic Gothic 𐌱𐌹 (bi). Non Germanic cognates include Albanian mbi (“on, about”), Ancient Greek αμφί (amfi, “on, around”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biː/

Preposition

bī

1. by, near, around, to, in, at, about, with
2. beside

Descendants

• Middle English: bi
  • English: by

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Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *bi, whence also Old English bi.

Preposition

bī

1. by
2. at

Descendants

• German: bei
• Yiddish: בײַ (bay)

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Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *bi, whence also Old English bi.

Preposition

bī

1. by, near, to
2. beside

Descendants

• Low German: bi, by

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Portuguese

Adjective

bi m, f (plural bi; comparable)

1. bisexual (sexually attracted to persons of either sex)

Synonyms

• bissexual

Noun

bi m f (plural bis)

1. bisexual (bisexual person)

Synonyms

• bissexual

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Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

Probably from Proto-Celtic, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeih₃w- (“to live”). Compare Welsh byw, Breton beva.

Verb

bi

1. be

Inflection

Infinitive	a bhith
Imperative	bi
Present participle	a' bhith
Past participle	air a bhith

	Present tense	Past tense	Future tense	Conditional
Basic form	tha	bha	bidh/bithidh	bhithinn/bhiodh/bhiomaid
Dependent form	bheil	robh	bi	bithinn/biodh/biomaid
Impersonal form	thathar	bhathar	bithear	bhiteadh

See also

• is

Related terms

• beò

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Swedish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse bý, from Proto-Germanic *bijō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰī-.

Noun

bi n

1. bee

Declension

Declension of bi

	singular		plural
Neuter	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	bi || biet || bin || bina
genitive	bis || biets || bins || binas

Usage notes

• More rare spellings of the defenite forms are bit/bits (singular) and bien/biens (plural). However, the spellings in the inflection box are the most common.

See also

• bålgeting c
• geting c

Etymology 2

Adjective

bi

1. (informal) bisexual

Etymology 3

Adverb

bi (not comparable)

1. (in some fixed expressions) by

Related terms

• stå någon bi

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Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): /ˀɓi˧˧/
• (Huế) IPA^(key): /ˀɓɪj˧˧/
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): /ˀɓɪj˧˥/

Etymology 1

Sino-Vietnamese, from 悲 ("sad, tragic")

Adjective

bi

1. tragic

Etymology 2

From French bille

Noun

bi

1. ball
2. marble (spherical glass ball)

Derived terms

• bút bi (ball-point pen)

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Volapük

Conjunction

bi

1. because