bible

See also: Bible

English

Etymology

From Middle English bible, from Middle Latin biblia (“book”) (misinterpreted as a feminine from earlier Latin neuter plural biblia (“books”)), from Ancient Greek βιβλία (biblía, “books”), plural of βιβλίον (biblíon, “small book”), originally a diminutive of βίβλος (bíblos, “book”), from βύβλος (búblos, “papyrus”) (from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported this writing material).

Old English used biblioþēce (from βιβλιοθήκη) and ġewritu (> English writs) for "the Scriptures".

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪbəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪbəl

Noun

bible (plural bibles)

1. A comprehensive manual that describes something. (e.g., handyman’s bible).
   • 1995, Gary Wolf, "The Curse of Xanadu", Wired Magazine

     Computer Lib was written as a popular primer, but its most profound effect was on computer programmers, who needed little persuasion about the value of computers. Its tone – energetic, optimistic, inexhaustible, confused – matched theirs exactly. Having set out to appeal to the general public, Nelson managed to publish an insider's bible and highly intimate guide to hacker culture.

2. (nautical) A holystone.
3. (at certain US universities) A compilation of problems and solutions from previous years of a given course, used by some students to cheat on tests or assignments.
   • 1965, Matt Fichtenbaum and Dan Murphy, “The Institute Screw” in The Broadside of Boston, vol. III, No. 22:

     My friend’s a genius, he will give me problems one through nine.
     The bible of a sophomore will have the needed lines.

Related terms

• biblical

Translations

comprehensive manual

• Afrikaans: bybel
• Albanian: Bibël f
• Arabic: الكتاب المقدس‎‎
• Azerbaijani: bible
• Bulgarian: библия (bg) (biblija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 圣经 (zh) (shèngjīng)

• Czech: bible (cs) f
• Dutch: bijbel (nl)
• Esperanto: Biblio
• Estonian: piibel
• Finnish: raamattu (fi)
• French: Bible (fr) f
• German: Bibel (de) f
• Greek: βίβλος (el) f (vívlos)
• Hungarian: biblia (hu)
• Ido: biblo (io)
• Indonesian: Alkitab (id)

• Interlingua: biblia
• Irish: bíobla f
• Japanese: 虎の巻 (tora no maki)
• Korean: 성경 (ko) (seonggyeong), 성서 (ko) (seongso)
• Latvian: Bībele f
• Lithuanian: Biblija (lt) f
• Malay: Alkitab
• Polish: Biblia (pl) f
• Portuguese: Bíblia (pt) f
• Romanian: Biblie (ro) f
• Russian: би́блия (ru) f (bíblija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Библија f, Свето Писмо n

  Roman: Biblija f, Sveto Pismo n

• Swedish: bibel (sv) c
• Thai: คัมภีร์ไบเบิล (Khạmp̣hīr̒ bịbeil)
• Turkish: İncil (tr)
• Welsh: Beibl (cy)

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Czech

Proper noun

bible f

1. Bible

Declension

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	bible	bible
genitive	bible	biblí
dative	bibli	biblím
accusative	bibli	bible
vocative	bible	bible
locative	bibli	biblích
instrumental	biblí	biblemi

Derived terms

• biblický
• biblista

Further reading

• bible in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• bible in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bibl/

Noun

bible f (plural bibles)

1. bible (comprehensive text)

Derived terms

• biblique
• bibliste

Further reading

• “bible” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).