beg

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

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /bɛɡ/
Audio (General American): (file)
(Canada) IPA^(key): /beɪɡ/
Rhymes: -ɛɡ

Etymology 1

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

beg (third-person singular simple present begs, present participle begging, simple past and past participle begged)

(intransitive) To request the help of someone, often in the form of money.
He begged on the street corner from passers-by.
(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' [...]
(transitive) To unwillingly provoke a negative, often violent, reaction.
The way you keep eating raw meat, you're just begging to get tapeworms.
(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.
(transitive) In the phrase beg the question: to assume.
(transitive, proscribed) In the phrase beg the question: to raise (a question).
Antonym: set aside
(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

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

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

to request the help of someone, often in the form of money

Afrikaans: bedel (af)
Arabic: اِسْتَجْدَى (istajdā), سَأَلَ (ar) (saʔala)
Gulf Arabic: طر (ṭar)

Hijazi Arabic: شَحَت (šaḥat)
Armenian: մուրալ (hy) (mural)
Azerbaijani: dilənmək
Belarusian: папраша́йнічаць impf (paprašájničacʹ), прасі́ць impf (prasícʹ), жабрава́ць impf (žabravácʹ)
Bulgarian: про́ся (bg) impf (prósja), изпро́свам (bg) impf (izprósvam), изпро́ся pf (izprósja)
Catalan: pidolar (ca), mendicar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 央求 (zh) (yāngqiú), 求 (zh) (qiú), (for food or money) 乞討 / 乞讨 (zh) (qǐtǎo)
Crimean Tatar: yalvarmaq
Czech: žebrat (cs) impf
Danish: tigge
Dutch: bedelen (nl)
Esperanto: almozpeti
Ewe: ɖekuku
Faroese: bidda
Finnish: kerjätä (fi), pyytää (fi), anella (fi), anoa (fi), kärttää
French: mendier (fr), quêter (fr), quémander (fr)
Friulian: cirî
Galician: pedichar, galloufar, mendicar, aquestar, perdouxer
Georgian: ხვეწნა (xvec̣na), მუდარა (mudara)
German: betteln (de)
Greek: ζητιανεύω (el) (zitianévo), επαιτώ (el) (epaitó)
Hebrew: ביקש \ בִּקֵּשׁ (bikésh), קיבץ נדבות (kibéts n'davót)
Hungarian: koldul (hu), kéreget (hu)
Icelandic: betla
Indonesian: mengemis (id), minta-minta (id)
Interlingua: mendicar
Italian: mendicare (it), elemosinare (it)
Japanese: 請う (ja) (こう, kou)
Khmer: សុំទាន (som tiən)
Latin: mendīcor
Macedonian: просјачи impf (prosjači)
Malayalam: യാചിക്കുക (ml) (yācikkuka), തെണ്ടുക (ml) (teṇṭuka)
Maori: minene, pīnono, pikoni, mīnono
Middle English: beggen
North Frisian: beđeri (Sylt)
Northern Sami: ánuhit, átnut, gearjidit
Norwegian:
Bokmål: tigge (no)

Nynorsk: tigga
Occitan: mendicar (oc)
Old English: biddan
Polish: żebrać (pl) impf
Portuguese: mendigar (pt)
Romanian: cerși (ro)
Russian: проси́ть (ru) impf (prosítʹ), попроси́ть (ru) pf (poprosítʹ), попроша́йничать (ru) impf (poprošájničatʹ) (of a beggar), побира́ться (ru) impf (pobirátʹsja), выпра́шивать (ru) impf (vyprášivatʹ), кля́нчить (ru) impf (kljánčitʹ)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: про̀сити impf, просја́чити impf

Roman: pròsiti (sh) impf, prosjáčiti (sh) impf
Slovak: žobrať impf
Slovene: beračiti impf, prosjačiti impf
Spanish: mendigar (es), pordiosear (es)
Swedish: tigga (sv)
Tagalog: magpalimos
Tamil: கெஞ்சு (ta) (keñcu)
Tatar: соранырга (soranırga), теләнеп сорау (telänep soraw)
Telugu: యాచించు (te) (yāciñcu)
Thai: ขอทาน (th) (kɔ̌ɔ-taan)
Tocharian B: yāsk-
Turkish: yalvarmak (tr), dilenmek (tr)
Ukrainian: жебра́чити impf (žebráčyty), же́брати impf (žébraty), проси́ти impf (prosýty)
Uzbek: тиланмоқ (tilanmoq)
Vietnamese: ăn xin (vi)
Volapük: lubegön (vo)
Zazaki: ver geyren
ǃXóõ: ǁgàã

to plead with someone for help

Arabic: تَسَوَّلَ (tasawwala), رَجَا (rajā)
Armenian: աղաչել (hy) (aġačʻel)
Belarusian: умо́льваць impf (umólʹvacʹ), малі́ць impf (malícʹ), блага́ць impf (blahácʹ), прасі́ць impf (prasícʹ)
Bulgarian: мо́ля (bg) impf (mólja), умоля́вам (bg) impf (umoljávam)
Catalan: suplicar (ca), pregar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 央求 (zh) (yāngqiú), 求 (zh) (qiú)
Czech: prosit (cs) impf
Danish: bede (da), bønfalde
Dutch: smeken (nl)
Esperanto: petegi
Ewe: ɖekuku
Finnish: kerjätä (fi), pyytää (fi), anella (fi), anoa (fi), kärttää
French: implorer (fr), supplier (fr)
Galician: pregar, ladar, deprecar, questar, pianchar, medear
German: anflehen (de), bitten (de)
Greek: ικετεύω (el) (iketévo)
Ancient: ἱκετεύω (hiketeúō), δέω (déō)
Hebrew: הִתְחַנֵּן (he) (hitkhanén)
Hungarian: könyörög (hu)
Indonesian: minta (id), mohon (id)
Interlingua: implorar
Italian: implorare (it), pregare (it)
Japanese: 頼む (ja) (たのむ, tanomu), 拝み倒す (おがみたおす, ogamitaosu)
Korean: 부탁하다 (ko) (butakhada), 빌다 (ko) (bilda), 탄원하다 (ko) (tanwonhada), 구걸하다 (ko) (gugeolhada), 간청하다 (ko) (gancheonghada), 애원하다 (ko) (aewonhada)
Latin: rogo, obsecrō
Lombard: pregà
Macedonian: моли impf (moli), преколнува impf (prekolnuva)
Middle English: beggen
Occitan: suplicar (oc), pregar (oc)
Polish: błagać (pl) impf
Portuguese: suplicar (pt), implorar (pt)
Romanian: ruga (ro)
Russian: умоля́ть (ru) impf (umoljátʹ), моли́ть (ru) impf (molítʹ), проси́ть (ru) impf (prosítʹ)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: мо̀лити impf, замо̀лити pf

Roman: mòliti (sh) impf, zamòliti (sh) pf
Slovak: prosiť (sk) impf
Slovene: prositi (sl) impf
Spanish: suplicar (es), rogar (es), deprecar (es)
Swedish: be (sv), bönfalla (sv)
Tamil: கெஞ்சு (ta) (keñcu)
Thai: ขอร้อง (th) (kɔ̌ɔ-rɔ́ɔng)
Ukrainian: блага́ти (uk) impf (blaháty), моли́ти impf (molýty), проси́ти impf (prosýty)
Vietnamese: khẩn cầu (vi)
Volapük: begön (vo)
ǃXóõ: ǁgàã

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

Afrikaans: ^{(please verify)} smeek
Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} към моля (kǎm molja)
Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} peti (eo)
Korean: ^{(please verify)} 구걸하다 (ko) (gugeolhada)
Swahili: ^{(please verify)} -ng'ang'ania, ^{(please verify)} -omba
Welsh: ^{(please verify)} cardota (cy)

Noun

beg (plural begs)

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. […]

Etymology 2

From Proto-Turkic *bēg.

Noun

beg (plural begs)

(history) Alternative form of bey

Translations

title — see also bey

Arabic: بيك m (bēg)
Azerbaijani: bəy (az)
Bengali: বেগ (bn) (beg)
Bulgarian: бег (bg) (beg)
Finnish: beg (fi)
Hindi: बेग (hi) m (beg)
Hungarian: bég (hu)
Kazakh: бек (bek)
Ottoman Turkish: بك (bey)
Persian: بیگ (fa) (beyg)
Southern Altai: бий (biy)
Tajik: бек (bek)
Tatar: бәк (tt) (bäk)
Turkish: bey (tr)
Urdu: بیگ m (beg)
Uyghur: بەگ (beg)
Uzbek: bek (uz)

Etymology 3

Noun

beg

(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.

Anagrams

GBE, GEB, Gbe, Geb, bge

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈbeɡ/
Rhymes: -eɡ

Noun

beg (plural begj or beglerë, definite begu)

Alternative form of bej

References

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

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (beg).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bɛx/
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: beg

Noun

beg m (plural begs)

(historical) Alternative form of bei

Etymology

Borrowed from English bag.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bɛɡ/

Noun

beg

bag

Etymology

Borrowed from English bag.

Pronunciation

Audio (Malaysia): (file)

Noun

beg (Jawi spelling بيݢ)

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

Etymology

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

Adjective

beg (plural beggey, comparative loo, superlative sloo)

small

Mutation

More information Manx mutation, Radical ...

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.

Close

References

Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “bec”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *běgъ.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bêːɡ/

Noun

bȇg m (Cyrillic spelling бе̑г)

escape

Declension

More information singular, plural ...

	singular	plural
nominative	beg	begovi
genitive	bega	begova
dative	begu	begovima
accusative	bega	begove
vocative	beže	begovi
locative	begu	begovima
instrumental	begom	begovima

Close

Declension of beg

Derived terms

bekstvo
bežanje
prebeg

References

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

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *běgъ.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /béːk/

Noun

bẹ̑g m inan

run
getaway
escape
withdrawal
(phrase) flight
Planiti v beg ― To take flight

Inflection

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.

More information Masculine inan., hard o-stem, nom. sing. ...

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

Close

Etymology 2

From Turkish bey.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /béːk/

Noun

bẹ̑g m anim

bey (Turkish governor)

Inflection

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.

More information Masculine anim., hard o-stem, nom. sing. ...

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

Close

Etymology

Borrowed from English beg.

Noun

beg (nominative plural begs)

request, an action of begging

Declension

More information singular, plural ...

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

Close

¹ status as a case is disputed
² in later, non-classical Volapük only

Etymology

From Chinese 白 (MC baek).

Pronunciation

(Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /peːk˧/

Tone numbers: beg⁸

Hyphenation: beg

Adjective

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

(bound) white

Adverb

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

in vain; for nothing
for free; free of charge

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Verb

Usage notes

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

See also

Etymology 2

Noun

Translations

Etymology 3

Noun

Further reading

Anagrams

Pronunciation

Noun

References

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Etymology

Adjective

Mutation

References

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Derived terms

References

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

Inflection

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Noun

Inflection

Further reading

Etymology

Noun

Declension

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Adverb

English

Albanian

Dutch

Iban

Malay

Manx

Serbo-Croatian

Slovene

Volapük

Zhuang