Wiktionary

beg

See also: Beg, bég, bèg, beg., and bēg

English edit

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

Inherited from Middle English beggen, of uncertain origin, possibly from Old English *becgian, *bedcian, syncopated variants of bedecian (“to beg”), itself of obscure origin. Possibly from Proto-West Germanic *bedukōn, a frequentative verb derived from Proto-West Germanic *bedu (“petition, plea”). Alternatively from Proto-West Germanic *bedagō, from Proto-Germanic *bedagô (“petitioner; requestor; beggar”), from *bedą, *bedō (“prayer; request”). Compare North Frisian bēdagi (“to pray”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍅𐌰 (bidagwa, “beggar”), Old English biddan (“to ask”). More at bid, bead. See also Norwegian Bokmål be (“to beg, ask”).

Verb edit

beg (third-person singular simple present begs, present participle begging, simple past and past participle begged)

  1. (intransitive) To request the help of someone, often in the form of money.
    He begged on the street corner from passers-by.
  2. (transitive) To plead with someone for help, a favor, etc.; to entreat.
    Synonym: supplicate
    I beg your pardon. I didn’t mean to cause offence.
    He begged her to go to the prom with him.
  3. (transitive) To unwillingly provoke a negative, often violent, reaction.
    The way you keep eating raw meat, you're just begging to get tapeworms.
  4. (transitive or intransitive) To obviously lack or be in need of something.
    A captivating novel that just begs for a movie adaptation
    • 1985 April 13, Philip Brasfield, “Echoes Inside of What's Outside”, in Gay Community News, page 4:
      The colors in this cell are as dull as its architects must have been. An endless expanse of drab-green textured walls, contrasting with the gray concrete floor. It begs redecoration.
  5. (transitive) In the phrase beg the question: to assume.
  6. (transitive, proscribed) In the phrase beg the question: to raise (a question).
    Antonym: set aside
  7. (transitive, law, obsolete) To ask to be appointed guardian for, or to ask to have a guardian appointed for.
    • a. 1612, John Harington, Epigrams:
      Else some will beg thee, in the court of wards.
Usage notes edit

This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Derived terms edit
Translations edit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun edit

beg (plural begs)

  1. The act of begging; an imploring request.
    • 2008, Cathy Gohlke, William Henry is a Fine Name/I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires Set:
      “Lord,” I prayed, “it's a long time since I came to You for anything besides a quick beg for help. And it seems every time I come to You I'm asking something bigger, more impossible. But I'm here again. […]

See also edit

Etymology 2 edit

From Proto-Turkic *bēg.

Noun edit

beg (plural begs)

  2. (history) Alternative form of bey
Translations edit

Etymology 3 edit

Noun edit

beg

  1. (knitting) Abbreviation of beginning.
    • 2005, DRG Dynamic Resource, Big Book of Knit Hats & Scarves for Everyone, House of White Birches, page 34:
      Knit with MC until work measures 3 inches from beg.

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Albanian edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

beg (plural begj or beglerë, definite begu)

  1. Alternative form of bej

References edit

  • “beg,~u”, in FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎[1] (in Albanian), 1980, page 121a
  • Bufli, G., Rocchi, L. (2021) “bej”, in A historical-etymological dictionary of Turkisms in Albanian (1555–1954), Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste, page 73
  • Mann, S. E. (1948) “beg”, in An Historical Albanian–English Dictionary, London: Longmans, Green & Co., page 24b
  • Meyer, G. (1891) “bek-gu”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch der albanesischen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the Albanian Language] (in German), Strasbourg: Karl J. Trübner, →DOI, page 31

Dutch edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (beg).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

beg m (plural begs)

  1. (historical) Alternative form of bei.

Iban edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from English bag.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

beg

  1. bag

Malay edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from English bag.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

beg (Jawi spelling بيݢ)

  1. bag
    Beg sekolah saya berat.
    My school bag is heavy.

Manx edit

Etymology edit

From Old Irish bec, from Proto-Celtic *biggos (“small”).

Adjective edit

beg (plural beggey, comparative loo, superlative sloo)

  1. small

Mutation edit

Manx mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
beg veg meg
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References edit

Serbo-Croatian edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *běgъ.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

bȇg m (Cyrillic spelling бе̑г)

  1. escape

Declension edit

Declension of beg
singular plural
nominative beg begovi
genitive bega begova
dative begu begovima
accusative bega begove
vocative beže begovi
locative begu begovima
instrumental begom begovima

Derived terms edit

References edit

  • “beg” in Hrvatski jezični portal

Slovene edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Proto-Slavic *běgъ.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

bẹ̑g m inan

  1. run
  2. getaway
  3. escape
  4. withdrawal
  5. (phrase) flight
    Planiti v beg ― To take flight
Inflection edit
 
 The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing. bég
gen. sing. béga
singular dual plural
nominative
(imenovȃlnik) 		bég béga bégi
genitive
(rodȋlnik) 		béga bégov bégov
dative
(dajȃlnik) 		bégu bégoma bégom
accusative
(tožȋlnik) 		bég béga bége
locative
(mẹ̑stnik) 		bégu bégih bégih
instrumental
(orọ̑dnik) 		bégom bégoma bégi

Etymology 2 edit

From Turkish bey.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

bẹ̑g m anim

  1. bey (Turkish governor)
Inflection edit
 
 The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
Masculine anim., hard o-stem
nom. sing. bég
gen. sing. béga
singular dual plural
nominative
(imenovȃlnik) 		bég béga bégi
genitive
(rodȋlnik) 		béga bégov bégov
dative
(dajȃlnik) 		bégu bégoma bégom
accusative
(tožȋlnik) 		béga béga bége
locative
(mẹ̑stnik) 		bégu bégih bégih
instrumental
(orọ̑dnik) 		bégom bégoma bégi

Further reading edit

  • “beg”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Volapük edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from English beg.

Noun edit

beg (nominative plural begs)

  1. request, an action of begging

Declension edit

declension of beg
singular plural
nominative beg begs
genitive bega begas
dative bege beges
accusative begi begis
vocative 1 o beg! o begs!
predicative 2 begu begus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in later, non-classical Volapük only

Zhuang edit

Etymology edit

From Chinese 白 (MC baek).

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

beg (Sawndip form 白, 1957–1982 spelling beg)

  1. (bound) white

Adverb edit

beg (Sawndip form 白, 1957–1982 spelling beg)

  1. in vain; for nothing
  2. for free; free of charge
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