be-

From Middle English be-, bi-, from Old English be- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi (“near, by”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at, near”). See by, by-.

Cognate with Saterland Frisian bi- (“be-”), West Frisian be- (“be-”), Dutch be- (“be-”), German Low German be- (“be-”), German be- (“be-”), Danish be- (“be-”), Swedish be- (“be-”).

• IPA^(key): /bɪ/, /bi/, /bə/ (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada, General Australian, New Zealand)
• (Indic, always) IPA^(key): /bɪ/

be-

2. (rare or no longer productive) By, near, next to, around, close to.

   beleaguer, bestand, beset, besit

4. (rare or no longer productive) Around; about.

   begather, belay, belook, bestir, belive, besmell, bewrap

6. (rare or no longer productive) About, regarding, concerning, over.

   bewrite, betalk, betell, belie, bemoan, bemourn, bewail, beknow, besing, bespeak

8. (rare or no longer productive) On, upon, at, to, in contact with something.

   beclothe, becall, besee, behold, befall, bedo, beshine, besmile, betone

10. (rare or no longer productive) Off, away, over, across

    becut, bedeal, betake, bego, behead, belimb, benim, bereave, besleeve, betrunk

12. (rare or no longer productive) As an intensifier; i.e. thoroughly, excessively; completely; utterly.

    bebreak, begladden, belabour, belove, behate, besmirch, bedazzle, besiege, befuddle

14. (rare or no longer productive) All around; about; abundantly; all over.

    belave, belick, bescatter, bekiss

16. (rare or no longer productive) Forming verbs derived from nouns or adjectives, usually with the sense of "to make, become, or cause to be".

    becalm, bedark, befree, befriend, bedim, beken, benight, benothing, bewet, besmooth, bestrange

18. (archaic or informal) Used to intensify adjectives meaning "adorned with something", often those with the suffix -ed.

    besequined, befeathered, beclawed, bewebbed, betasseled, beloved

    • 2010 October 17, Hadley Freeman, “Tattoos: what makes one spiritual and another Katona-esque?”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

      Similarly, one could argue that if these be-tattooed yogic folk were really so spiritual, they wouldn't feel the need to inform everyone else of this or remind themselves of it, via the medium of the tattoo.

• the NED and OED

• EB, Eb

From Dutch be-, from Middle Dutch be-, from Old Dutch bi-, from Proto-Germanic *bi-.

• IPA^(key): /bə/

be-

1. Used to indicate that a verb is acting on a direct object (making an intransitive verb into a transitive verb). Always unstressed.
2. Used to change the direct object of a transitive verb, so that what was previously expressed as an optional prepositional object becomes the direct object and vice versa. Always unstressed.

   pyle op die diere skiet → die diere met pyle beskiet

   to shoot arrows at the animals

Not separable. When forming past participles, generally not prepended with ge-.

From Middle Low German be-, from Old Saxon bi-.

be-

1. Forms adjectives from nouns, with the sense "having noun".

   hår ("hair") → behåret ("hairy")

   hjerte ("heart") → behjertet ("hearty, brave")

2. Forms verbs from adjectives, with the sense "making" (adjective); -ify.

   svanger ("pregnant") → besvangre ("impregnate")

   rolig ("calm") → berolige ("calm, soothe")

3. Prepends to verbs, having no effect save making the verb transitive

   tvivle → betvivle ("doubt")

   kæmpe → bekæmpe ("fight")

Verbs formed with be- are transitive. Many such words are formed after Middle Low German words.

• “be-” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Middle Dutch be-, bi-, from Old Dutch bi-, be-, from Proto-Germanic *bi-, from Proto-Germanic *bi (“near, by”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at, near”).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian be- (“be-”), West Frisian be- (“be-”), English be-, German Low German be- (“be-”), German be- (“be-”), Swedish be- (“be-”).

• IPA^(key): /bə/

• Audio:

  (file)

be-

1. Used to indicate that a verb is acting on a direct object (making an intransitive verb into a transitive verb). Always unstressed.
2. Used to change the direct object of a transitive verb, so that what was previously expressed as an optional prepositional object becomes the direct object and vice versa. Always unstressed.

   huizen op een land bouwen → een land met huizen bebouwen

   to build houses on a land

From Middle High German be-, from Old High German bi-, from Proto-Germanic *bi-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi.

• IPA^(key): [bə] (Germany)
• IPA^(key): [b̥e] (Austria)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

be-

1. inseparable verbal prefix that signifies touching the object
2. inseparable verbal prefix that signifies discussing or mentioning the object

• Verbs with this prefix very often take an object in the accusative case.
• The prefix can be used to convert an intransitive verb into a transitive verb, examples:
  • ‎gehen + ‎be- → ‎begehen
  • ‎arbeiten + ‎be- → ‎bearbeiten
  • ‎schnüffeln + ‎be- → ‎beschnüffeln

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɛ]

be-

1. (verbal prefix) in (it indicates actions with inward direction)

   Antonym: ki-

   ‎be- + ‎megy (“to go”) → ‎bemegy (“to go into”)

• Appendix:Hungarian verbal prefixes

• Hungarian prefixes in the English Wikipedia

be-

1. alternative form of ber-

From Middle Dutch be-, bi-, from Old Dutch bi-, be-, from Proto-Germanic *bi-.

• IPA^(key): /bə/

be-

1. Inseparable verbal prefix that signifies working on something or change of state.
2. Inseparable verbal prefix that signifies touching the object.
3. Inseparable verbal prefix that signifies discussing or mentioning the object.

• The verb with this prefix takes very often a direct object (i.e., an object in the accusative case).

• IPA^(key): [bʲɛ-]
• Syllabification: be-

Prefix form of bè (“without”).

be-

1. prefix form of bè: without; -less, non-, un-

   Synonym: ne-

   beprõtis ― mindless (insane)

   bešir̃dis ― heartless

   bevai̇̃kis ― childless

   beprasmýbė ― nonsense

be-

1. attached to present tense verb forms, expresses immediate intent or an impeding and inevitable event; (just) about to, just now, starting; -ing

   Lietùs belỹja. ― It's starting to rain.

   Àš jaũ beeinù. ― I'm leaving just now.

Compare Ahtna b-, Navajo bi-.

• IPA^(key): /pə/

be-

1. Marks a third-person singular possessor of a noun

   ‎be- + ‎-lo' (“hand”) → ‎belo' (“his/her hand”)

   ‎be- + ‎-bet (“stomach”) → ‎bebet (“his/her hand”)

2. Marks a third-person singular object of a postposition

• xebe-

• Kari, James et al. (2024), Kari, James, editor, Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, page 67

From Middle High German and Old High German bi-, from Proto-Germanic *bi-, from *bi.

• IPA^(key): /be/, [bə]

be-

1. Inseparable verbal prefix that signifies working on something or change of state.
2. Inseparable verbal prefix that signifies touching the object.
3. Inseparable verbal prefix that signifies discussing or mentioning the object.

• Verbs with this prefix very often take objects in the accusative case.

From Old Dutch bi-, be-, from Proto-Germanic *bi-.

be-

1. A verb prefix with a variety of meanings.

• Dutch: be-
• Limburgish: be-

be-

1. alternative form of bi-

From Old Saxon bi-, from Proto-Germanic *bi-. Cognate to bî (“by”).

• IPA^(key): /bə-/, /bɪ-/

be-

1. Makes an intransitive verb transitive or denotes that the action is targeted at something or accompanying something.

   vallen (to fall) → bevallen (befall, afflict)

   singen (to sing) → besingen (to sing about something; to sing for the merit of something)

   bischop besingen – to ordain someone as bishop while chanting

2. Denotes on top, onto, often used to create figurative meanings.

   sitten (to sit) → besitten (to sit on top of; to own; to climb onto something; to acquire)

3. Denotes next to, very close.

   bûwen (to build) → bebûwen (to build too close to something else; to besiege)

• bo-
• bu-
• bi-

• IPA^(key): /pɛ̀-/

be-

1. his, her (indicates secondary or alienable possession, in opposition to bi-. See for example akʼah, beʼakʼah)

From Proto-West Germanic *bi-, from Proto-Germanic *bi-, equivalent to an unstressed form of bī.

• IPA^(key): /be/
• Rhymes: -e

be-

1. a productive prefix usually used to form verbs and adjectives, especially:

   verbs with the sense "around, near";

   verbs with the sense "on, upon";

   verbs with the sense "off, away"

• This prefix is always unstressed, in both nouns and verbs.
• The stressed nominal counterpart is bī-.

• Middle English: bi-, be-, by-, b- (in certain words)
  • English: be-
  • Scots: be-

be-

1. alternative form of bi-

• IPA^(key): /bɛ/, (stressed) /²beː/

be-

1. same as German be-, often found in German loanwords, primarily verbs and words based on verbs

In many cases the be- prefix doesn't change the meaning at all, it only makes word look more German. In the name of conciseness and readability, Swedish linguists in the late 19th century (Adolf Noreen, later also Erik Wellander) successfully promoted the idea that this prefix should be dropped from such words, for example befrämja turned into främja.

be-

1. Form used before a verb beginning with the letter e of ba-

   ‎be- + ‎efubika (“to cover oneself”) → ‎beefubika (“they cover themselves”)

Inherited from Chagatai بی (by), from Classical Persian بی‌ـ (bē-).

be-

1. -less

   Synonym: -siz

be-

1. Used to make an indirect object a direct object.
2. Strengthens the meaning of the radical.
3. Implies causing or conferring the meaning of the radical.

From Mandarin 不.

• IPA^(key): [pə]

be-

1. not; negates the existence of an action or state conveyed by a verb or adjective, in practice chiefly used as negation in the present or future.

• Juha Janhunen, Marja Peltomaa, Erika Sandman, Xiawu Dongzhou (2008), Wutun (LINCOM's Descriptive Grammar Series), volume 466, LINCOM Europa, →ISBN
• Erika Sandman (2016), A Grammar of Wutun‎^[2], University of Helsinki (PhD), →ISBN

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

be-

1. Class 2 simple noun prefix, used with nouns whose full prefix is abe-.