böse

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See also: bose, Bose, and Böse

German

Alternative forms

  • bös (colloquial or poetic)

Etymology

From Middle High German bœse, bōse, from Old High German bōsi, from Proto-West Germanic *bausī, from Proto-Germanic *bausuz (inflated, puffed up, arrogant, bad), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bew- (to blow, inflate, swell), akin to Yiddish בייז (beyz), Dutch boos, and English boast.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbøːzə/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -øːzə

Adjective

böse (strong nominative masculine singular böser, comparative böser, superlative am bösesten)

  1. evil; malicious; wicked
    Synonyms: boshaft, bösartig
    Antonym: gut
    Unsere Taten können schlimme Folgen haben, selbst wenn wir keine bösen Absichten hatten.
    Our actions can have terrible consequences even if we didn’t have any evil intentions.
    jemandem Böses wollen.
    to want to hurt someone.
  2. bad; naughty
    Antonym: brav
    Böse Kinder kriegen nichts vom Sankt Nikolaus.
    Naughty children don’t get anything from St. Nicholas.
  3. (chiefly predicative) angry
    Synonyms: sauer, verärgert
    Bist du böse auf mich?Are you angry at me?

Declension

See also

Adverb

böse

  1. nastily, evilly

Further reading