bedel

Borrowed from Medieval Latin pedellus, bedellus, bidellus, from Middle English bedel; cognate with beadle.

bedel (plural bedels)

1. (historical) An administrative official at universities in several European countries, often with a policiary function at the time when universities had their own jurisdiction over students.

   Oxford today has four bedels, representing Divinity, Law, Medicine, and Arts.

   • 1837, William Harrison Ainsworth, “The Rector”, in Crichton, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, page 59:

     Next came the bedels and minor-bedels of all the Faculties, who by some accident were so jumbled together, that it was impossible to determine or arrange any order of precedence. […] These bedels or greffiers were jolly robustious souls, bending beneath the weight of their ponderous silver maces, and attired in gowns of black, blue, violet, or dark red, each colour denoting the Faculty to which the wearer pertained.

• Lebed, debel, beled, deleb, bleed

From Dutch bedelen.

• Audio:

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bedel (present bedel, present participle bedelende, past participle gebedel)

1. To beg

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

bedel

1. A toll, due, fee, contribution

• “bedel”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɛdɛl]
• Rhymes: -ɛdel
• Hyphenation: be‧del

bedel

1. genitive plural of bedla

From bedelen.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeːdəl/
• Hyphenation: be‧del
• Rhymes: -eːdəl

bedel m (plural bedels, diminutive bedeltje n)

1. a charm (small trinket or pendant on a bracelet or necklace)
2. the practice of begging, mendicancy

In the sense “charm” most commonly used in the diminutive form bedeltje. When used as the first component in a compound noun, however, as in bedelarmband = bedel +‎ armband, the main form is used.

• (begging): gebedel
• (begging): bedelen

• bedelbidden
• bedelbruiker

From Medieval Latin bidellus, bedellus, pedellus, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *budilaz.

• IPA^(key): /bəˈdɛl/
• Hyphenation: be‧del
• Rhymes: -ɛl

bedel m (plural bedels, diminutive bedeltje n)

1. obsolete form of pedel (“beagle, academic usher”)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeːdəl/
• Hyphenation: be‧del
• Rhymes: -eːdəl

bedel

1. inflection of bedelen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

• beeld, belde

From Medieval Latin bidellus, bedellus, pedellus, from a merger of Frankish *bidil (“candidate, volunteer”) (from Proto-Germanic *bidilaz (“seeker”), from *bidjaną (“to ask, beseech”)) and Frankish *budil (“herald, beadle”) (from Proto-Germanic *budilaz (“herald”)). Akin to Old High German bitil (“candidate”), Old High German butil (“beadle”) (German Büttel), Old English bydel (“apparitor, messenger, beadle”) (English beadle).

bedel oblique singular, m (oblique plural bedeaus or bedeax or bediaus or bediax or bedels, nominative singular bedeaus or bedeax or bediaus or bediax or bedels, nominative plural bedel)

1. A beadle, academic usher

• Middle French: bedeau
  • French: bedeau
• → Italian: bidello

• IPA^(key): /beˈdel/ [beˈð̞el]
• Rhymes: -el
• Syllabification: be‧del

bedel m or f by sense (plural bedeles)

1. janitor, porter

• conserje m
• portero m

• “bedel”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish بدل, from Arabic بَدَل (badal, “substitution, equivalent”).

• IPA^(key): /beˈdel/, [beˈdæl]
• Hyphenation: be‧del

bedel

1. equivalent

   Bir dolar, beş Türk lirasına bedel. ― One dollar is equivalent to five Turkish liras.

bedel (definite accusative bedeli, plural bedeller)

1. value, price

   Synonyms: paha, fiyat

2. substitute

   Synonym: yedek

3. substitute hajji (someone who performs the hajj for payment in place of someone else)

• bedelli

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “bedel”, in Nişanyan Sözlük