beg

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /bɛɡ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /beɪɡ/
• Rhymes: -ɛɡ

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 source. 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”).

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.

   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     you do beg your good will in this case.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 27:58:

     [Joseph] begged the body of Jesus.

   • [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:

     But that same day came Sam Tewkesbury to the Why Not? about nightfall, and begged a glass of rum, being, as he said, 'all of a shake' [...]

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.

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

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. […]

• beggar

From Proto-Turkic *bēg.

beg (plural begs)

2. (history) Alternative form of bey.

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.

• beg on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• GBE, GEB, Gbe, Geb, bge

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeɡ/
• Rhymes: -eɡ

beg (plural begj or beglerë, definite begu)

1. alternative form of bej

• “beg,~u”, in FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎^[1], 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 [Etymological Dictionary of the Albanian Language] (in German), Strasbourg: Karl J. Trübner, →DOI, page 31

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (beg).

• IPA^(key): /bɛx/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: beg

beg m (plural begs)

1. (historical) alternative form of bei

Borrowed from English bag.

• IPA^(key): /bɛɡ/

beg

1. bag

Borrowed from English bag.

• IPA^(key): [bɛʔ], [bɛk]

  • Audio (Malaysia):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ek, -ɛk
• Hyphenation: beg

beg (Jawi spelling بيݢ, plural beg-beg)

1. A bag.

   Beg sekolah saya berat.

   My school bag is heavy.

• “beg” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Inherited from Old Irish bec^[1] from Proto-Celtic *biggos (“small”). Cognate with Irish beag, Scottish Gaelic beag and also Breton bihan, Welsh bach, bychan and Cornish byghan.

• IPA^(key): /beɡ/

beg

1. small, little

   Synonyms: fardalagh (“insignificant”), goan (“scarce”), myn (“fine”), giare (“short, brief”), keyl (“slender”)

   Ta quallian beg noa ec ny naboonyn.

   The neighbours have a small new puppy.

   Cha ren mee faikin ee agh son tammylt beg.

   I only saw her for a little bit.

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *běgъ.

• IPA^(key): /bêːɡ/

bȇg m anim (Cyrillic spelling бе̑г)

1. escape

• bekstvo
• bežanje
• prebeg

• “beg”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

From Proto-Slavic *běgъ.

• IPA^(key): /béːk/

bẹ̑g m inan

1. run
2. getaway
3. escape
4. withdrawal
5. (phrase) flight

   Planiti v beg ― To take flight

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

From Turkish bey.

• IPA^(key): /béːk/

bẹ̑g m anim

1. bey (Turkish governor)

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

• “beg”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025

Borrowed from English beg.

beg (nominative plural begs)

1. request, an action of begging

From Chinese 白 (MC baek).

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /peːk˧/
• Tone numbers: bek⁸
• Hyphenation: beg

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

1. (bound) white

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

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