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be

verb
/biː//biː/CA/bi(ː)/US/bi//beɪ/

Etymology

From Middle English been (“to be”). See below for more. Further etymology of be and its conjugated forms The various forms have three separate origins, which were mixed together at various times in the history of English. * The forms beginning with b- come from Old English bēon (“to be, become”), from Proto-Germanic *beuną (“to be, exist, come to be, become”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH-yé-ti (“to grow, become, come into being, appear”), from the root *bʰuH-. In particular: ** Now-dialectal use of been as an infinitive of be is either from Middle English been (“to be”) or an extension of the past participle. ** Now-obsolete use of been as a plural present tense (meaning "are") is from Middle English been, be (present plural of been (“to be”), with the -n leveled in from the past and subjunctive; compare competing forms aren/are). ** Use of been as a past participle is from Middle English been, ybeen, from Old English ġebēon. * The forms beginning with w- come from the aforementioned Old English bēon, which shared its past tense with the verb wesan, from Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes- (“to reside”). * The remaining forms (am, are, is) are also from Old English wesan (“to be”), Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, the present tense of which comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₁és-ti, from the root *h₁es-.

  1. derived from *h₁ésti✻
  2. inherited from wesan
  3. derived from *h₂wes-✻
  4. inherited from *wesaną✻
  5. inherited from *wesan✻
  6. inherited from ġebēon
  7. inherited from been — “to be”
  8. inherited from *bʰuHyéti✻
  9. inherited from *beuną✻
  10. inherited from bēon
  11. inherited from been

Definitions

  1. As an auxiliary verb

    As an auxiliary verb:

    • The dog was saved by the boy.
    • Study courses of Esperanto and Ido have been broadcast.

  2. As a copulative verb

    As a copulative verb:

    • There is just one woman in town who can help us.
    • (or, dialectally:) It is just one woman in town who can help us.
    • Some men there are loue not a gaping Pigge: / Some that are mad, if they behold a Cat: / And others, when the bag-pipe sings i’th nose, / Cannot containe their Vrine for affection.

  3. As an intransitive lexical verb

    As an intransitive lexical verb:

    • The Universe has no explanation: it just is.
    • That was the week that was.
    • This is something that was meant to be.
  4. ›+ 9 more definitions

    1. Alternative form of by. Also found in compounds, especially oaths, e.g. begorra.

      • O ful tru un pertikler akeawnt o... th' greyt Eggshibishun. Be o felley fro Rachde.
      • Go thy way vorth be tha vootsteps uv tha vlock.
      • Aw teuk me seat be day an' neet.

    2. The name of the Cyrillic script letter Б / б

    3. Initialism of Bachelor of Engineering.

    4. Initialism of breast expansion.

    5. Abbreviation of Berlin

      Abbreviation of Berlin: a state of Germany.

    6. Abbreviation of Bengkulu

      Abbreviation of Bengkulu: a province of Indonesia.

    7. Initialism of Black English.

    8. Initialism of Buddhist Era.

      • For quotations using this term, see Citations:BE.

    9. Initialism of board-eligible.

The neighborhood

  • synonymgetused to form passive

Derived

abe, albe, beable, be about to, be cool, be-er, be fearful when others are greedy, be going to, be judge and jury, be no match for, be onto nothing, be quiet, be to, beware, bewith, bist, gonnabe, habitual be, inter-be, maybe, might-be, to-be, unbe, wannabe, be after, be along, be away, be down on, be in, be in on, be like, be not on, be off, be on, be on about, be onto, be out, be out of, be out to do, be up · +1 more

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for be. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA