beast

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Old French beste (French: bête), from Latin bēstia (“animal, beast”); many cognates – see bēstia.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /biːst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːst

Noun

beast (plural beasts)

1. Any animal other than a human; usually only applied to land vertebrates. Especially large or dangerous four-footed ones
2. (more specific) A domestic animal, especially a bovine farm animal:
   • 1945, George Orwell, Animal Farm, chapter 1

     Boxer was an enormous beast, nearly eighteen hands high, and as strong as any two ordinary horses put together.

3. A person who behaves in a violent, antisocial or uncivilized manner.
4. (slang) A large and impressive automobile
5. (slang, prisons) A sex offender.
   • 1994, Elaine Player, Michael Jenkins, Prisons After Woolf: Reform Through Riot (page 190)

     Shouts had been heard: 'We're coming to kill you, beasts.' In desperation, Rule 43s had tried to barricade their doors […]

   • 1994, Adam Sampson, Acts of Abuse: Sex Offenders And the Criminal Justice System (page 83)

     For many prisoners and in many prisons, antipathy towards 'nonces' or 'beasts' is little more than an idea […]

Derived terms

• beastly
• saddle beast

Related terms

• bestial
• bestiary

Translations

non-human animal

• Albanian: bishë (sq) n
• Arabic: وحش (ar) (waḥš) m
• Armenian: կենդանի (hy) (kendani) , (wild) գազան (hy) (gazan) 
• Belarusian: звер (be) (zvjer) m 
• Bulgarian: звяр (bg) (zvjar) , животно (bg) (živótno) 
• Catalan: bèstia (ca) f, fera (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 四足獸 (cmn), 四足兽 (cmn) (sì zú shòu), 獸 (cmn), 兽 (cmn) (shòu), 禽獸 (cmn), 禽兽 (cmn) (qínshòu)

• Czech: zvíře (cs) n, bestie (cs) f
• Dutch: beest (nl) n, wild dier (nl), dier (nl) n
• Esperanto: besto (eo)
• Finnish: eläin (fi), selkärankainen (fi) (vertebrate), pontso (fi)
• French: bête (fr) f
• Georgian: მხეცი (ka) (mxeci) 
• German: Tier (de) n, Bestie (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌳𐌹𐌿𐍃 (dius) n
• Greek: τέρας (el) (téras) n , θηρίο (el) (thirío) n 

  Ancient: θηρίον (thèríon) n

• Haitian Creole: bèt
• Hebrew: בהמה (he) (behema) f
• Ido: bestio (io)
• Irish: beithíoch (ga) m
• Italian: bestia (it) f
• Japanese: wild beast: 野獣 (ja) (やじゅう, yajū), savage beast: 猛獣 (ja) (もうじゅう, mōjū), 獣 (ja) (けもの, kemono)

• Korean: 짐승 (ko)
• Latgalian: zviers m, dzeivnīks m, žeivots
• Latin: bestia (la), bestia (la) f, fera (la) f
• Latvian: dzīvnieks (lv) m, zvērs (lv) m
• Macedonian: ѕвер (mk) (dzver) m
• Middle French: beste
• Old Church Slavonic: звѣрь (zvěrĭ) m
• Old French: beste
• Polish: zwierzę (pl) n, bestia (pl) f
• Portuguese: fera (pt) f, besta (pt) f
• Romanian: bestie (ro), fiară (ro)
• Russian: зверь (ru) (zver’) m , животное (ru) (živótnoje) n , тварь (ru) (tvar') f , бестия (ru) (béstija) f 
• Scottish Gaelic: ainmhidh (gd) m, beathach (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: зве̑р (sh) m, звије̑р (sh) m, чудовиште (sh) n, животиња (sh) f, зверка (sh) f, звијерка (sh) f

  Roman: zver (sh) f, zvijer (sh) f, čudovište (sh) n, životinja (sh) f, zverka (sh) f, zvijerka (sh) f

• Slovak: zviera (sk) n
• Slovene: zver (sl) f
• Spanish: bestia (es) f
• Swedish: best (sv) c
• Telugu: జంతువు (te) (jaMtuvu), మృగము (te)
• Ukrainian: звір (uk) (zvir) m 
• Volapük: nim (vo), lunim (vo), bestaf (vo)

violent/antisocial person

• Albanian: bishë (sq) n
• Arabic: متوحش (ar) m
• Armenian: անասուն (hy) (anasun) , գազան (hy) (gazan) 
• Catalan: bèstia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 畜生 (cmn) (chùshēng), 兇暴而殘忍的人 (cmn), 凶暴而残忍的人 (cmn) (xiōngbào ér cánrěn de rén)

• Czech: bestie (cs) f
• Dutch: beest (nl) n
• Finnish: hirviö (fi), peto (fi)
• German: Biest (de) n
• Greek: κτήνος (el) (ktínos) n , ζώο (el) (zó'o) n , τέρας (el) (téras) n 

• Hebrew: בהמה (he) (behema) f
• Indonesian: buas (id)
• Japanese: 獣 (ja) (けもの, kemono), けだもの (ja) (kedamono)
• Latin: bestia (la) f, ferus (la)
• Polish: bestia (pl) f, bydlak (pl) m, bydlę (pl) n
• Portuguese: fera (pt) f, besta (pt) f
• Russian: монстр (ru) (monstr) m , зверь (ru) (zver’) m , чудовище (ru) (čudóvišče) n , скотина (ru) (skotína) f 
• Slovene: zver (sl) f, zverina (sl) f
• Spanish: bestia (es) f, animal (es) m, salvaje (es) m and f
• Telugu: పశువు (te) (paSuvu)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Northern Ndebele: belchew n, ibde n
• Slovak: zver (sk) m and f, zviera (sk) n, šelma (sk) f
• Southern Ndebele: belchew n, ibde n

See also

• belluine (suppletive adjective)

Derived terms

terms derived from beast (noun)

beast fable beast of burden beast of draft beast of prey beastie

beastly beastmaster beauty and the beast king of beasts lobola-beast belly of the beast

Related terms

terms related to beast (noun)

bestial bestiality bestiary bête noire

bêtise hartebeest wildebeest

Verb

beast (third-person singular simple present beasts, present participle beasting, simple past and past participle beasted)

1. (UK, military) to impose arduous exercises, either as training or as punishment.

Adjective

beast (comparative more beast, superlative most beast)

1. (slang) great; excellent; powerful
   • 1999, "Jason Chue", AMD K6-2 350mhz, FIC VA503+, LGS 64mb PC100 sdram (on newsgroup jaring.pcbase)

     There is another type from Siemens which is the HYB 39S64XXX(AT/ATL) -8B version (notice the "B" and the end) which is totally beast altogether.

   • 2012, Katie McGarry, Pushing the Limits (page 37)

     Translation: a piece of crap, but the rest of the car was totally beast.

Anagrams

• abets, baste, bates, Bates, beats, betas, esbat, tabes