bli

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See also: BLI, bli', and blí

Albanian

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

bli m (plural blirë, definite bliri)

  1. linden, lime tree (Tilia)
  2. linden flower (used to make linden tea)

Alternative forms

Derived terms

Noun

bli m (plural blij, definite blini)

  1. sturgeon (Acipenser sturio)

Higaonon

Etymology

From bili, compare Aklanon bili.

Noun

bli

  1. worth

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *blī, from Proto-West Germanic *blīwī.

Pronunciation

Noun

bli n

  1. lead
    Synonym: loot

Descendants

  • Dutch: blei (with unetymological ei)
  • Limburgish: blie

Further reading

  • “bli”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
  • Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “bli”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Short form of blive, from Danish blive, from Middle Low German bliven. Meanings 2, 3 and 4 are taken from Old Norse verða, which also has given rise to the dated vorde. In several dialects, the Low German word did not displace the Old Norse word completely. As a result, vart was allowed in past tense besides ble(i) between 1938 and 2005.

Verb

bli (imperative bli, present tense blir, simple past ble or blei, past participle blitt, present participle blivende)

  1. to stay, remain.
    Hva sier du til å bli hjemme i stedet for å gå på den dumme festen?
    How about staying home instead of going to that stupid party?
    Du blir her!
    You stay here!
  2. (as an auxiliary verb to create passive voice with the main verb in past participle) to be
    To personer ble arrestert for tyveri i går.
    Two people were arrested for theft yesterday.
    Hun ble grepet av angst.
    She was gripped with fear.
  3. (change, development over time) to become, get, go.
    Det blir jo bare verre!
    It keeps getting worse!
    Øhm, er det bare meg, eller begynner du å bli skallet?
    Erm, is it just me, or are you going bald?
  4. to be, become, will, going to, turn out,
    Når jeg blir stor skal jeg bli lege.
    When I grow up, I'm going to be a doctor.
    Festen ble en suksess!
    The party turned out to be/was a success!
  5. (bills and payments) to be, come to
    Det blir 25 kroner.
    That's 25 kroner
Synonyms
Derived terms
See also

Etymology 2

From the expression bli(ve) på sjøen (literally “to remain at sea”). The same word as in etymology 1 above, but secondarily distinguished in form.

Verb

bli (imperative bli, present tense blir, simple past blev or bleiv, past participle blitt, present participle blivende)

  1. (archaic, dialect) Alternative form of blive (“to drown”)
    Synonym: drukne
    Han falt over bord og bleiv.
    He fell over board and drowned.

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

Etymology

Short form of blive, from Middle Norwegian blífa, from Middle Low German bliven. Meaning 2, 3 and 4 are taken from Old Norse verða. The forms vart, vorte and vorten are from verta and verte, also from Old Norse verða.

Pronunciation

Verb

bli (present tense blir, past tense blei or vart, supine blitt or vorte, past participle blitt or vorten, present participle blivande, imperative bli)

  1. to stay, remain.
    Kva seier du til å bli heime i staden for å gå på den dumme festen?
    How about staying home instead of going to that stupid party?
    Du blir her!
    You stay here!
  2. (as an auxiliary verb to create passive voice with the main verb in past participle) to be
    To personar vart arresterte for tjuveri i går.
    Two people were arrested for theft yesterday.
    Ho vart gripen av angst.
    She was gripped with fear.
  3. (change, development over time) to become, get, go.
    Det blir jo berre verre!
    It keeps getting worse!
    Øhm, er det berre meg, eller byrjar du å bli skalla?
    Erm, is it just me, or are you going bald?
  4. to be, become, will, going to, turn out,
    Når eg blir stor, skal eg bli lege.
    When I grow up, I'm going to be a doctor.
    Festen vart ein suksess!
    The party turned out to be/was a success!
  5. to be necessary, to have to, to be
    Det blir å byrje på nytt, går eg ut frå.
    I have to start over again I guess.
  6. (bills and payments) to be, come to
    Det blir 25 kroner.
    That's 25 kroner

Synonyms

to stay, remain
to become, get, be
bills and payment; to be

Derived terms

See also

References

  • “bli” in The Bokmål Dictionary / The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *blīwī.

Noun

blī n

  1. lead

Descendants

Swedish

Etymology

Apocopic form of bliva, from Old Swedish bliva, from Middle Low German blîven (“to remain”), from Old Saxon bilīvan, from Proto-West Germanic *bilīban, from Proto-Germanic *bilībaną. Displaced Swedish varda completely in the present tense, and partly in the past tense.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bliː/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -iː

Verb

bli (present blir, preterite blev or (dialectal) vart, supine blivit, imperative bli)

  1. to become
    Jag blev glad när jag fick klappa kaninen
    I was happy when I got to pet the rabbit
    Vi stannade tills det blev mörkt
    We stayed until it got dark
    Det blev bra
    It turned out well
    1. to turn into (with an optional preposition till)
      Vattnet blev (till) vin
      The water turned into wine
      Grodan blev (till) en prins
      The frog turned into a prince
      Guldet blev (till) sand
      The gold turned into sand
  3. (sometimes dated) to remain, to stay
    Nisse kom och blev stående i dörröppningen
    Nisse came and stopped and remained standing in the doorway (not dated)
    Arbetet blev liggande
    The work stayed lying (not being worked on) (not dated)
    Skomakare, bli vid din läst!
    Cobbler, stick to thy last!
  4. (impersonal) to be (in a future sense)
    Det ska bli kul att träffa honom
    It will be fun to meet him
  5. (auxiliary) used together with an adjective or past participle, meaning "has become"
    Han har blivit gammal
    He has become old
    Det hade blivit kallt
    It had become cold (the weather had gotten colder)

Usage notes

  • Swedish has a much stronger preference for bli (“become”) compared to English. Bli often idiomatically translates as something other than become, but means become. See the usage notes for man and skall for two other examples of words that have a direct translation that is often unidiomatic or a poor match for tone.
  • The initial examples for (sense 2) could also be analyzed as "became standing" and "became lying." Not dated for those usages.
  • The sense to remain, stay used to be more common in 1950 than it is now.
  • Note that bli till transitively means turn into, but intransitively means to come into being. The stress is on bli in the transitive sense, but till in the intransitive sense.
  • In many dialects, the past tense blev is often replaced with vart (etymologically the past tense of varda).

Conjugation

Conjugation of bli (class 1 strong)
Active Passive
Infinitive bli —
Supine blivit —
Imperative bli —
Imper. plural1 blin —
Present Past Present Past
Indicative blir blev — —
Ind. plural1 bli blevo — —
Subjunctive2 bli bleve — —
Participles
Present participle blivande
Past participle bliven
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.
Conjugation of bliva (class 1 strong, dated)
Active Passive
Infinitive bliva —
Supine blivit —
Imperative bliv —
Imper. plural1 bliven —
Present Past Present Past
Indicative bliver blev — —
Ind. plural1 bliva blevo — —
Subjunctive2 blive bleve — —
Participles
Present participle blivande
Past participle bliven
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Synonyms

Derived terms

References

Anagrams

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