Wiktionary

beg

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

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Middle English beggen, of uncertain origin. Possibly from Old English *becgian, *bedcian, syncopated forms of bedecian (“to beg”), itself of obscure origin. Possibly from Proto-West Germanic *bedukōn, a frequentative verb derived from Proto-West Germanic *bedu (“plea, petition, prayer”, whence English bead). Alternatively from Proto-West Germanic *bedagō (“petitioner, requester, beggar”), an agent noun from the same surce. Compare North Frisian bēdagi (“to pray”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍅𐌰 (bidagwa, “beggar”). All ultimately from the root of English bid, which see for more. An alternative theory considers the verb a backformation from beggar and derives the latter from Old French begart (“kind of lay brother”).

Verb

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

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

Noun

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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

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Etymology 2

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From Proto-Turkic *bēg.

Noun

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beg (plural begs)

  2. (history) Alternative form of bey
Translations
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Etymology 3

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Noun

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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

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Anagrams

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Albanian

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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beg (plural begj or beglerë, definite begu)

  1. Alternative form of bej

References

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  • “beg,~u”, in FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe‎[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 (in German), Strasbourg: Karl J. Trübner, →DOI, page 31

Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (beg).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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beg m (plural begs)

  1. (historical) Alternative form of bei

Iban

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English bag.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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beg

  1. bag

Malay

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English bag.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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beg (Jawi spelling بيݢ)

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

Manx

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Etymology

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

Adjective

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beg (plural beggey, comparative loo, superlative sloo)

  1. small

Mutation

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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

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Serbo-Croatian

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Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Slavic *běgъ.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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bȇg m (Cyrillic spelling бе̑г)

  1. escape

Declension

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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

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References

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  • “beg”, in Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

Slovene

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Etymology 1

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From Proto-Slavic *běgъ.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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bẹ̑g m inan

  1. run
  2. getaway
  3. escape
  4. withdrawal
  5. (phrase) flight
    Planiti v beg ― To take flight
Inflection
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 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

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From Turkish bey.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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bẹ̑g m anim

  1. bey (Turkish governor)
Inflection
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 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

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  • “beg”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2024

Volapük

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English beg.

Noun

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beg (nominative plural begs)

  1. request, an action of begging

Declension

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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

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Etymology

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From Chinese 白 (MC baek).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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

  1. (bound) white

Adverb

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

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