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BE

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be¹

  • /ˈbiː/
  • [ˈbɪi̯]
  • /ˈbɪ/
  • [ˈbɪ]
  • /ˈbə/
  • [ˈbə]

Sounds like bee, Bea · Rhymes with -iː

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *bʰuHyétider.?

Proto-Germanic *beuną

Proto-West Germanic *beun

Old English bēon

Middle English been

English be

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-.

verb be · am · 'm · was · 's

  1. auxiliary Used with past participles of verbs to form the passive voice. The dog was saved by the boy.
  2. Used with present participles of verbs to form the continuous aspect. The woman is walking.
  3. Used with to-infinitives of verbs to express intent, obligation, appropriateness, or relative future occurrence. I am to leave tomorrow.
  4. Used with past participles of certain intransitive verbs to form the perfect aspect. He is finished.
  5. Caribbean, Ireland, auxiliary To tend to do, often do; marks the habitual aspect. 1996, David Sheffield, Barry W. Blaustein, Tom Shadyac and Steve Oedekerk, screenplay of The Nutty Professor Women be shoppin’! You cannot stop a woman from shoppin’!
  6. with dummy subject To exist. There is just one woman in town who can help us.
  7. Used to declare the subject and object identical or equivalent. Hi, I’m Jim.
  8. Used to indicate that a predicate nominal applies to the subject. Rex is a dog.
  9. Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by an adjective or prepositional phrase. The sky is blue.
  10. Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase. The sky is a deep blue today.
  11. Used to link a subject to a measurement. This building is three hundred years old.
  12. Used to state the age of a subject in years. I’m 20 (years old).
  13. Used to indicate the time of day. It is almost eight (o’clock).
  14. Used to indicate passage of time since the occurrence of an event. It has been three years since my grandmother died. (similar to "My grandmother died three years ago", but emphasizes the intervening period)
  15. past, rare, regional Used to link two noun clauses: a day of the week, recurring date, month, or other specific time (on which the event of the main clause took place) and a period of time indicating how long ago that day was. I saw her Monday was a week: I saw her a week ago last Monday (a week before last Monday).
  16. To pass or spend (time). and when he compares both sides, he will be some time at a loss to fix any determination.
  17. To take a period of time. Dinner will be ten minutes.
  18. impersonal, often Used to indicate ambient conditions such as weather, light, noise or air quality. It is hot in Arizona, but it is not usually humid.
  19. especially, irregular To exist or behave in a certain way. When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead.
  20. literary, usually To exist; to have real existence, to be alive. The Universe has no explanation: it just is.
  21. To remain undisturbed in a certain state or situation. Let them be for a few hours.
  22. To occupy a place. The cup is on the table.
  23. To occur, to take place. When will the meeting be?
  24. Elliptical form of “be here”, “go to and return from” or similar, also extending to certain other senses of “go”. The postman has been today, but my tickets have still not yet come.

Similar: get

be²

  • /bi/
  • /bə/
  • /bɪ/

Where it comes from

A variant of by which goes back to Middle English be (variant of Middle English bi).

preposition

  1. alternative, dated, dialectal, possibly Alternative form of by. Also found in compounds, especially oaths, e.g. begorra begad and bejesus.by O ful tru un pertikler akeawnt o... th' greyt Eggshibishun. Be o felley fro Rachde.

be³

  • /beɪ/

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Russian бэ (bɛ).

noun bes

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

BE⁴

noun BEs

  1. abbreviation, countable, initialism, uncountable Initialism of Bachelor of Engineering.Bachelor of Engineering
  2. abbreviation, countable, initialism, uncountable Initialism of breast expansion.breast expansion

proper noun

  1. abbreviation Abbreviation of Berlin: a state of Germany.Berlin
  2. abbreviation Abbreviation of Bengkulu: a province of Indonesia.Bengkulu
  3. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of Black English.Black English
  4. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of Buddhist Era.Buddhist Era For quotations using this term, see Citations:BE.

adjective

  1. abbreviation, initialism, not comparable Initialism of board-eligible.board-eligible

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