bei

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See also: Bei, bèi, Bèi, bēi, běi, bei-, be'i, and bé-í

Aiwoo

Adjective

bei

  1. sick, ill

References

Ajië

Pronunciation

Verb

bei

  1. to fall

References

Bauro

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *bei.

Noun

bei

  1. water

References

  • Sidney Herbert Ray, A Comparative Study of the Melanesian Island Languages (2014), page 481: Bauro bei "water"

Catalan

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Turkish bey.

Noun

bei m (plural beis)

  1. bey
Derived terms

Further reading

Etymology 2

Noun

bei m (plural beis)

  1. (mineralogy) lode

Central Franconian

Etymology

From Old High German bī.

Pronunciation

Preposition

bei (+ dative or accusative)

  1. (most dialects) at; with; by; near; (close) to
    Jank bei der Wage on waat do op mich!
    Go to the car and wait there for me!

Derived terms

  • derbei
  • beim, bem (contraction with the masculine and neuter dative of the definite article)

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch baye, a borrowing from Old French baie, baia, from Latin bāca.

Noun

bei f (plural beien, diminutive beitje n)

  1. (obsolete, dialectal) berry
Synonyms
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Turkish bey.

Noun

bei n (plural beien)

  1. (historical) bey, beg (historical Turkish official)
Alternative forms

Esperanto

Etymology

From be (“baa”) +‎ -i (infinitive verb suffix).

Pronunciation

Verb

bei (present beas, past beis, future beos, conditional beus, volitive beu)

  1. to make the characteristic cry of a sheep; to baa

Conjugation

Conjugation of bei
present past future
singular plural singular plural singular plural
tense beas beis beos
active participle beanta beantaj beinta beintaj beonta beontaj
acc. beantan beantajn beintan beintajn beontan beontajn
nominal active participle beanto beantoj beinto beintoj beonto beontoj
acc. beanton beantojn beinton beintojn beonton beontojn
adverbial active participle beante beinte beonte
infinitive bei imperative beu conditional beus

Faroese

Etymology

From English bye.

Pronunciation

Interjection

bei

  1. bye, goodbye

German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle High German bī, from Old High German bī, from Proto-West Germanic *bī, from Proto-Germanic *bi. More at by.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /baɪ̯/
  • Rhymes: -aɪ̯
  • audio(file)

Preposition

bei (+ dative)

  1. (locative) by; near
    die Bank bei der Kirche ― the bench/bank by the church
    die Bäckerei beim Bahnhof ― the bakery near the train station
  2. (with a person, family, shop) at
    Ich schlafe bei Peter. ― I’m sleeping at Peter’s .
    Ich bin beim Metzger. ― I'm at the butcher’s.
  3. (with an organization or company) for; at; in
    bei der Firma arbeiten ― to work for the firm
    das Arbeitsklima bei Schmidt & Co.
    the working atmosphere at Schmidt & Co.
  4. (formal, reflexive) with; on
    Er hat es nicht bei sich. ― He doesn’t have it on him.
    → for which usually: Er hat es nicht dabei.
  5. (with an event considered certain) upon, at the time of
    bei Abfahrt des Zuges ― upon departure of the train
  6. (with an event considered theoretical) in case of, in the event of
    bei Hochwasser ― in case of flooding
  7. (with a continuing activity or condition) during; while; during the existence of
    bei der Arbeit ― during work
    beim Lesen des Textes ― while reading the text
    bei Schnee ― when there is snow
  8. (with an item that implies an activity) over; during
    bei einem Glas Wein ― over a glass of wine (that is, while drinking it)
    bei einem Film ― during a film (that is, while watching it)
  9. (dated, in a postal address) care of; via
    Frau Tina Müller bei Firma Schmidt & Co. ― Mrs Tina Müller, care of Schmidt & Co.
  10. (now dialectal, nonstandard, northern and central Germany, with accusative) with, to, towards
    Leg dat bei die andern Sachen! ― Put that with the other things!
    Komm ma bei mich! ― Come to me!

Usage notes

  • When bei is followed by the definite article dem (“the”), the two words contract to beim. However, when dem is a demonstrative pronoun, no contraction occurs. Compare:
Der Baum steht zu nah beim Haus. – “The tree is too close to the house.”
Der Baum steht zu nah bei dem Haus da hinten. – “The tree is too close to that house over there.”
  • (with, to, towards): In many dialects, and historically in literary style, bei could express movement, requiring then the accusative case. This is in conflict with modern standard rules, for which reason this use of the preposition is becoming rare. In adverbial constructions, however, bei and dabei expressing movement are still fairly common in regional speech: Kommt noch was dabei? (“Do you want anything else with that?”) Sie können Sie sich hier ruhig beisetzen. (“You may come sit here with us.”) The standard language proper normally uses dazu in such cases, but it does feature some relicts in compounds such as herbei, beiseite, beilegen, beitreten, etc. Compare also the idiom Butter bei die Fische. Compare further Dutch bij for which all such constructions are perfectly standard.

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

  • “bei” in Duden online
  • “bei” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Italian

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbɛ.i/
  • Rhymes: -ɛi
  • Hyphenation: bè‧i

Adjective

bei

  1. masculine plural of bello (before a consonant)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbɛ.i/
  • Rhymes: -ɛi
  • Hyphenation: bè‧i

Verb

bei

  1. inflection of beare:
    1. second-person singular present indicative
    2. first/second/third-person singular present subjunctive
    3. third-person singular imperative

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbe.i/
  • Rhymes: -ei
  • Hyphenation: bé‧i

Verb

bei

  1. (archaic or colloquial Tuscan) second-person singular present indicative of bere

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

Noun

bei m (invariable)

  1. (uncommon) Alternative form of bey

References

  1. ^ bei in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Iu Mien

Etymology

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *pei (“to know”). Cognate with White Hmong paub.

Verb

bei 

  1. to know

Japanese

Romanization

bei

  1. Rōmaji transcription of べい

Lithuanian

Etymology

According to Fraenkel, from bè (“without”) + particle -i(d).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “What is this i(d) particle?”)

Conjunction

beĩ

  1. and (used to link words, not phrases, that are very similar in meaning)
    Synonym: ir̃
    Miške gyvena vilkai bei lapės, ir pelės bei voverės. ― In the forest, there are wolves and foxes, and mice and squirrels.

Usage notes

ir̃ is more commonly used in general, but beĩ can be used to link words more closely in a hierarchy.

Further reading

  • Vytautas Ambrazas (2006) Lithuanian Grammar, 2nd revised edition, →ISBN, page 427; 596
  • Fraenkel, Ernst (1955, 1962–1965) “bèt”, in Litauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume I, Heidelberg-Göttingen: Carl Winter and Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, page 41

Luxembourgish

Alternative forms

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Preposition

bei

  1. by, next to, near
    De Schlëssel läit bei der Dier.
    The key is by the door.
  2. at, to (the home or workplace of someone)
    Gëschter den Nomëtteg sinn ech bei den Dokter gaangen.
    Yesterday afternoon I went to the doctor's.
  3. with
    Wunns du nach bei dengen Elteren?
    Do you still live with your parents?
  4. during

Usage notes

  • The term bei is usually used with the dative case, unless it is used to express movement towards a particular place, then the accusative case is used.

Mandarin

Romanization

bei (bei5／bei0, Zhuyin ˙ㄅㄟ)

  1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 唄／呗
  2. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 臂

Romanization

bei

  1. Nonstandard spelling of bēi.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of běi.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of bèi.

Usage notes

  • Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Merei

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *bei.

Noun

bei

  1. water

References

  • Ying Shing Anthony Chung, A Descriptive Grammar of Merei (Vanuatu) (2005)

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German bei, Dutch bij, English by.

Preposition

bei

  1. near
  2. at, at the house of
  3. amidst, among
  4. by
  5. in
  6. with
  7. during

Portuguese

Noun

bei m (plural beis)

  1. bey (governor of a Turkish dominion)

Romanian

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (bey).

Noun

bei m (plural bei)

  1. bey
Declension
Declension of bei
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) bei beiul (niște) bei beii
genitive/dative (unui) bei beiului (unor) bei beilor
vocative beiule beilor

Etymology 2

Verb

bei

  1. second-person singular present indicative of bea
    ce bei?
    what are you drinking?
  2. second-person singular present subjunctive of bea
    vrei să bei ceva?
    do you want to drink something?

Roro

bei

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *bei.

Noun

bei

  1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

Swahili

Swahili Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sw

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic بَيْع (bayʕ).

Pronunciation

Noun

bei (n class, plural bei)

  1. price (cost required to gain possession of something)

Volapük

Preposition

a bei

  1. by

Welsh

Pronunciation

Noun

bei

  1. Soft mutation of pei.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
pei bei mhei phei
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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