bo

See also: Appendix:Variations of "bo" and Bo

English

Etymology 1

Imitative.

Alternative forms

• boh
• boo

Interjection

bo

1. An exclamation used to startle or frighten.
   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821:
     , II.37:

     We may fairely cry bo-bo-boe; it may well make us hoarse, but it will nothing advaunce it.

Etymology 2

Probably a shortening of boy.

Noun

bo (plural bos)

1. (US, slang) Fellow, chap, boy.
   • 1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin 2010, p. 255:

     ‘Never heard of him,’ he smiled. ‘On your way, bo.’

Etymology 3

From Japanese 棒 (bō), from Middle Chinese 棒 (bǽwng, “staff, club”) (compare modern Chinese 棒 (bàng)).

Noun

bo (plural bos)

1. (martial arts) A quarterstaff, especially in an oriental context.

Anagrams

• OB, Ob, Ob., ob, ob-, ob.

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Catalan

Etymology

From Old Provençal bon, from Latin bonus, from Old Latin duenos, later duonus, from Proto-Italic *dwenos, from Proto-Indo-European *dew- (“to show favor, revere”). Numerous cognates include French bon and Portuguese bom.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈbɔ/
• Rhymes: -ɔ

Adjective

bo (feminine bona, masculine plural bons, feminine plural bones)

1. good

Usage notes

The form bon is used as the masculine singular form when the adjective precedes the noun, and bo is used in all other cases.

Derived terms

• bonesa
• boníssim

Related terms

• bondat

See also

• bé, ben

Further reading

• “bo” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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Cebuano

Noun

bo

1. arm wrestling

Verb

bo

1. to arm-wrestle

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Cuiba

Noun

bo

1. home, house

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Czech

Conjunction

bo

1. (dialectal) as, since, because

Synonyms

• neboť

Further reading

• bo in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu
• bo in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

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Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /boː/, [b̥oːˀ]

Etymology 1

From Old Norse bú, from búa (“to reside”).

Noun

bo n (singular definite boet, plural indefinite boer)

1. estate (the property of a deceased person)
2. den, nest
3. abode, home

Inflection

Declension of bo

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	bo	boet	boer	boerne
genitive	bos	boets	boers	boernes

Etymology 2

From Old Norse búa (“to reside”).

Verb

bo (imperative bo, infinitive at bo, present tense bor, past tense boede, perfect tense har boet)

1. live, reside, dwell
2. stay, stop

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /boː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oː

Etymology

Clipping of boterham..

Noun

bo m (plural bo's, diminutive boke n)

1. (Belgium) sandwich

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Esperanto

Noun

bo (accusative singular bo-on, plural bo-oj, accusative plural bo-ojn)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) litero; a, bo, co, ĉo, do, e, fo, go, ĝo, ho, ĥo, i, jo, ĵo, ko, lo, mo, no, o, po, ro, so, ŝo, to, u, ŭo, vo, zo

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Friulian

Etymology

From Latin bōs, bōvem, probably through a Vulgar Latin *boem.

Noun

bo m (plural bûs)

1. ox

Synonyms

• nemâl

See also

• taur
• vacje

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Galician

Etymology

From Old Portuguese bõo, from Latin bonus.

Adjective

bo m (feminine singular boa, masculine plural bos, feminine plural boas)

1. good

Antonyms

• malo, mao

Related terms

• ben

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Gunwinggu

Noun

bo

1. water

References

• Lynette Frances Oates, A Tentative Description of the Gunwinggu Language (1964)

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Italian

Interjection

bo

1. Alternative spelling of boh

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Japanese

Romanization

bo

1. Rōmaji transcription of ぼ
2. Rōmaji transcription of ボ

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Kurdish

Preposition

bo

1. for

Derived terms

• ji bo
• bo çi

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Lojban

Cmavo

bo (rafsi bor)

1. Closest scope grouping operator; groups surrounding words within compound words (tanru); that is, it strengthens the association between immediately neighboring words.

   le xunre kerfa bo smani

   the haired monkey who is red

   compare to:

   le xunre kerfa smani

   the monkey who has red hair

2. Can be used as terminator to end a string of time tense indicating cmavo (at the beginning of a sentence).

   .ibazabo la lojban. cu pu co'a zmadu la loglan. leka vajni ^[1]

   After some time, Lojban began to exceed Loglan in terms of importance.

Usage notes

• Consecutive uses of bo cause their neighboring brivla (in a tanru) to behave right-associatively.
• An equivalent construction can be achieved using a surrounding/circumfix ke ... ke'e pair (replacing the infix bo).

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Mandarin

Romanization

bo (Zhuyin ㄅㄛ˙)

1. Pinyin transcription of 卜
2. Pinyin transcription of 啵
3. Pinyin transcription of 噃
4. Pinyin transcription of 蔔

bo

1. Nonstandard spelling of bō.
2. Nonstandard spelling of bó.
3. Nonstandard spelling of bǒ.
4. Nonstandard spelling of bò.

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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Nabak

Noun

bo

1. pig

References

• Corinna Handschuh, A typology of marked-S languages

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Borrowing from Middle Low German behof (compare with behov)

Noun

bo (idiomatic use only)

1. (usually with ha) a need

   Jeg har bo for en hammer.

   I could use a hammer.

Synonyms

• behøve
• trenge
• ha bruk for

Related terms

• behov

Usage notes

A noun not commonly used.

Etymology 2

From Danish bo, from Old Norse bú (“settled area, town”) (compare alternative form bu). Akin to bod (“store room, booth”) and the verb bo (“to live”).

Alternative forms

• bu (Nynorsk also)

Noun

bo n (definite singular boet, indefinite plural bo, definite plural boa or boene)

1. one's home (mainly idiomatic)

   De giftet seg og satte bo.

   They married and settled down/build their home.

2. estate

   Å skifte et bo.

   To divide an estate.

Synonyms

• (one's home): bolig, hjem/heim
• (estate): eiendom, gods

Derived terms

See combined section below.

Etymology 3

From Danish bo, from Old Norse búa (“to prepare, finish, make preparations, equip”), cognate with Old English būan, Old Frisian buwa, Old Saxon būan and Old High German būan (whence German bauen).

Alternative forms

• bu (Nynorsk also)

Verb

bo (imperative bo, present tense bor, simple past bodde, past participle bodd, present participle boende)

1. to live (have permanent residence), stay

   Hvor bor du (hen)?

   Where do you live?

   Jeg vet hvor du bor.

   I know where you live.

   Hvor lenge blir du boende.

   How long will you be staying?

2. to be, to dwell, to be in

   Husk at all skjønnhet på jord bor i de evige ord: Jeg elsker deg.

   Remember that all beauty on Earth dwells in those eternal words: I love you.

   (Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson)

   Du aner ikke hva som virkelig bor i henne.

   You have no idea what she's really like.

   (literally: "you have no idea what really dwells in her")

Synonyms

• (to live, have residence): holde hus (holde til huse), holde til husere, kampere, leve, losjere, oppholde seg, residere, tilbringe
• (to dwell in, be in): finnes, rommes, skjule seg, være, være til stede

Derived terms

(Noun and verb)

Terms derived from bo

• bebo
• bobil
• boende
• bo sammen
• bo seg i hjel
• bosette

• bosted
• bygge og bo
• dødsbo
• fastboende
• hva som bor i
• konkursbo

• sette bo
• sitte i ukskiftet bo
• skifte et bo
• ta et bo under behandling
• uskiftet bo

References

• “bo” in The Ordnett Dictionary
• “bo” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• search on "bo" on Ordtak.no - web site containing quotes and citations

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Middle Low German behof (compare behov)

Noun

bo (idiomatic use only)

1. (usually with ha) a need

   Eg har bo for ein hammar.

   I could use a hammer.

Synonyms

• behøve
• trenge
• turve
• ha bruk for

Related terms

• behov

Usage notes

A noun not commonly used.

References

• “bo” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Old Norse

Noun

bo ?

1. (East dialect) dwelling

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔ/

• Audio

  (file)

Conjunction

bo

1. because
2. or (else)

   Wstawaj już, bo spóźnisz się do szkoły!

   Get up now or you'll be late at school!

Further reading

• bo in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Slovene

Verb

bo

1. third-person singular future form of biti.

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Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [buː]

• audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Old Norse búa, from Proto-Germanic *būaną.

Verb

bo

1. live; dwell; to have permanent residence

   Jag vill bo i en stor stad.

   I want to live in a big city.

Conjugation

Conjugation of bo (weak)

	Active	Passive
Infinitive	bo	—
Present tense	bor	—
Past tense	bodde	—
Supine	bott	—
Imperative	bo	—
Present participle	boende
Past participle	—

Related terms

Related terms

• bebo
• bofast

• bonde
• boning

• bostad
• trångbodd

Etymology 2

Noun

bo n

1. nest; the place where certain animals live, in particular birds.

   fågelbo

   bird’s nest

2. a home (the inventory that turns a place into a home)
   • 1893, Elias Sehlstedt, Visa

     Litet bo jag sätta vill

     A little home is what I want

3. c (only in compounds) a person living in given city (e.g. Londonbo) or way (sambo, särbo)

Declension

Declension of bo
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	bo	boet	bon	bona
Genitive	bos	boets	bons	bonas

Alternative form for the definite singular: bot/bots.

Declension of bo
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	bo	bon	bor	borna
Genitive	bos	bons	bors	bornas

Related terms

Related terms

• bodelning
• bokris
• bolag
• bomärke

• bomässa
• boskap
• bosätta
• dödsbo

• fågelbo
• sambo
• svalbo
• särbo

Usage notes

• The use of "bo" as a shorthand for "bostad" (housing) goes back at least to the 1920s, for example in the name of trade expos like "Bygge och Bo" (1925).

See also

• gryt
• kula
• näste
• råtthål

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Tasmanian

Pronoun

bo

1. I

Synonyms

• narrar

References

• N.J.B. Plomley (1976) A word-list of the Tasmanian aboriginal languages^[2]

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Venetian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *boem, from Latin bos, bovem.

Noun

bo m (invariable)

1. ox

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Vietnamese

Alternative forms

• tiền bo

Etymology

Borrowing from French pourboire (“tip, extra money given in appreciation for a rendered service”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ˀɓɔ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ˀɓɔ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ˀɓɔ˧˥]

Noun

bo

1. (money) tip, extra money given in appreciation for a rendered service

Synonyms

• tiền thưởng

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Welsh

Alternative forms

• byddo

Verb

bo

1. (literary) third-person singular present subjunctive of bod

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
bo	fo	mo	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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Zulu

Pronoun

-bo

1. Combining stem of bona.