bel

bel

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Belarusian.

• IPA^(key): /bɛl/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛl
• Homophones: bell, belle

Named after Alexander Graham Bell.

bel (plural bels)

1. A measure of relative power, defined as log₁₀(P ₁/P ₂), where P₁ and P₂ are the measured and reference power respectively.

• decibel

• Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary

bel (plural bels)

1. Alternative form of bael (“Indian tree”)

• BLE, EBL, LEB, Leb, Leb.

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بل‎ (bel, “waist; spade”) (Turkish bel).

bel m

1. (anatomy) waist

From Ottoman Turkish بل‎ (bel, “spade”), from Persian بیل‎ (bil, “spade”).

bel m

1. spade

• bela, bel-la (feminine)

From Latin bellus (“pretty”). Compare Gascon bèth for the determiner use.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbel/

bel m

1. strange (in certain expressions)

bel m

1. any, anyone

• Badia I Margarit, Antonio. 1950. El habla del Valle de Bielsa. Barcelona: Instituto de Estudios Pirenaicos. 88, 232.

• IPA^(key): /bel/

• Audio (Baku)

  (file)

From Proto-Turkic *bẹ̄l.

bel (definite accusative beli, plural bellər)

1. (anatomy) back of the body

   Belim ağrıyır. ― My back hurts.

   uşaqlığı at belində keçən adam ― a person whose childhood has passed on the back of a horse.

   Synonyms: dal, arxa

2. (anatomy) small of the back
3. (anatomy) waist

   Synonym: miyan

4. (geography) saddleback, saddle, col

• bel bağlamaq (“to rely on”)

From Persian بیل‎ (bil, “spade”).

bel (definite accusative beli, plural bellər)

1. spade

• “bel” in Obastan.com.

From English bell.

bel

1. bell

From English belly.

bel

1. belly

From English bale.

bel

1. bale

From belar (“to bleat”).

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛl/

bel m (plural bels)

1. baa, bleat

• belar

• IPA^(key): /bɛl/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bel
• Rhymes: -ɛl

From Middle Dutch belle, from Old Dutch bella, from Proto-Germanic *bellǭ. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

bel f (plural bellen, diminutive belletje n)

1. bell
2. (obsolete) segment of a rattlesnake's rattle

• → Caribbean Javanese: bèl
• → Sranan Tongo: bèl

Probably a variant of bal (“ball, round convex object”)

bel f (plural bellen, diminutive belletje n)

1. bubble

   Synonym: bubbel

• luchtbel
• zeepbel

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

bel

1. first-person singular present indicative of bellen
2. imperative of bellen

• IPA^(key): /bɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: bêle, belle

see beau

bel

1. form of beau used before a masculine noun that starts with a vowel sound

• used before masculine nouns that start with a vowel like animal but also before nouns that start with a vowel sound like homme, where the h is silent: un bel homme (/œ̃ bɛ.l‿ɔm/)

• bel air
• bel-enfant
• bel esprit

Named for Alexander Graham Bell

bel m (plural bels)

1. (sound engineering) bel (unit of sound intensity)

• décibel

• “bel”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• blé

Borrowed from English belt.

• IPA^(key): /bél/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [bál]

bêl m

1. belt
2. seatbelt

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɛl]
• Hyphenation: bel
• Rhymes: -ɛl

From English bel.

bel

1. bel (a unit of measurement)

From bél.

bel

1. (archaic) internal part (a variant form of bél, used in derivatives)

• bel in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• bel and bel- in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (’A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2023)

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛːl/

  Rhymes: -ɛːl

bel n (genitive singular bels, nominative plural bel)

1. bel (measure of relative power)

• desibel, desíbel

From Dutch bel (“bell”), from Middle Dutch belle, from Old Dutch bella, from Proto-Germanic *bellǭ.

• IPA^(key): /bɛl/
• Hyphenation: bèl

bèl (first-person possessive belku, second-person possessive belmu, third-person possessive belnya)

1. bell

   Synonym: lonceng

bèl

1. (colloquial) To make phone call.

From English bel, after Alexander Graham Bell.

• IPA^(key): /bəl/
• Hyphenation: bêl

bêl (first-person possessive belku, second-person possessive belmu, third-person possessive belnya)

1. (physics) bel, a measure of relative power, defined as log₁₀(P ₁/P ₂), where P₁ and P₂ are the measured and reference power respectively.

• “bel” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

• IPA^(key): /bɛl/
• Rhymes: -ɛl
• Hyphenation: bel

bel

1. preconsonantal masculine singular form of bello

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بل‎ (bel, “waist”).

bel m (Latin spelling, Hebrew spelling ביל‎)

1. (anatomy) waist

From Proto-Austronesian *qebel.

bel

1. smoke

From Proto-Austronesian *qebel, compare Mansaka ubul and Western Bukidnon Manobo evel.

bel

1. smoke

• A Maranao Dictionary, by Howard P. McKaughan and Batua A. Macaraya

• bele, beele, beale, bealle

From Old French bel, biau, from Latin bellus, from Old Latin *duenelos. Doublet of beau.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛːl/, /ˈbɛl/

bel

1. Of fine quality: good, nice, appealing.
2. Physically appealing; attractive, pretty.

• beaute, bewte

• “bē̆l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-24.

Borrowed from Old Norse bœli.

bel m (plural bels)

1. (Jersey) courtyard, yard, patio
2. (Jersey) farmyard

• bel à balle (“ball court, ball park”)

Named after A. G. Bell.

bel m (definite singular belen, indefinite plural bel, definite plural belane)

1. bel (logarithmic measure of sound pressure)

• desibel

From Old Norse bil.

bel n (definite singular belet, indefinite plural bel, definite plural bela)

1. moment, instant
2. gap, space

• “bel” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• beal (uncommon)
• beau
• biau

From Latin bellus.

• IPA^(key): /bɛl/

bel m (oblique and nominative feminine singular bele)

1. graceful, elegant, courteous
2. noble
3. (as a term of address) good, as in, my good sir, my good lady
   • late 12th century, Aucassin et Nicolette, page 6 of the Mario Roques edition

     Biax sire, fait li quens, car laisciés ester. Nicolete est une caitive que j’amenai d’estrange tere

     Good sir, said the count, let her be. Nicolette is a captive that I've brought here from a foreign land

4. handsome; beautiful

• belement
• biauté
• bellezour

• French: beau
  • → English: beau
• Norman: biau, bieau
• Picard: biau
• → Middle English: beau; bel

• belh

From Latin bellus.

bel m (feminine singular bela, masculine plural bels, feminine plural belas)

1. beautiful

• IPA^(key): /bɛl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛl
• Syllabification: bel

Internationalism; compare English bel. Ultimately named after Scottish-born inventor, scientist, and engineer Alexander Graham Bell.

bel m inan (abbreviation B)

1. bel

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form..

bel f

1. genitive plural of bela

• bel in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• bel in Polish dictionaries at PWN

• behld (San Dionisio Ocotepec)

bel

1. (San Pablo Güilá) fish

• Natalie Operstein, Aaron Huey Sonnenschein, Valence Changes in Zapotec: Synchrony, diachrony, typology (2015, →ISBN, page 80

• IPA^(key): /bêːl/

bȇl (definite bȇlī, comparative bèljī, Cyrillic spelling бе̑л)

1. Alternative form of bȅo

From Proto-Slavic *bělъ, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰēlHs (“white surface or stain”).

• IPA^(key): /bèːʋ/

bẹ́ł (comparative bȍlj bẹ́ł or belȇjši, superlative nȁjbolj bẹ́ł or nȁjbelȇjši)

1. white

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

• “bel”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

From English belly.

bel

1. abdomen, belly (of a human)
2. underside
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Jenesis 3:14:

     Na God, Bikpela i tokim snek olsem, “Yu bin mekim dispela pasin nogut, olsem na nau mi gat strongpela tok bilong daunim yu. Bai yu gat bikpela hevi. Hevi yu karim bai i winim hevi bilong olgeta arapela animal. Nau na long olgeta taim bihain bai yu wokabaut long bel bilong yu tasol. Na bai yu kaikai das bilong graun.

     →New International Version translation

3. the fuselage of an airplane.

• bel i hevi/bel hevi
• rausim bel

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛl/

From Ottoman Turkish بل‎ (bel, “waist, loins”), from Proto-Turkic *bẹ̄l(k) (“waist”). Cognate with Old Turkic 𐰋𐰃𐰠‎ (b²il² /bél/, “waist”).

bel (definite accusative beli, plural beller)

1. waist

From Ottoman Turkish بل‎ (bel, “spade”), from Persian بیل‎ (bil, “spade”).

bel (definite accusative beli, plural beller)

1. (dated) spade

• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “بل”, in Dictionnaire turc-français, Constantinople: Mihran, page 274
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “bel2”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

From Proto-Turkic *bel.

bel

1. mark, sign

• bel etmek

bel (definite accusative beli, plural beller)

1. archaic and dialectal form of pil (“shovel, spade”)

From Proto-Turkic *bẹ̄l (“waist”).

bel (plural bellar)

1. waistline

From Persian بیل‎ (bêl, “spade”).

bel (plural bellar)

1. shovel, spade

Borrowed from German Berg.

bel (nominative plural bels)

1. mountain

From Old Frisian *belle, from Proto-Germanic *bellǭ.

• IPA^(key): /bɛl/

bel c (plural bellen, diminutive beltsje)

1. bell
2. doorbell

• earbel

• “bel”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

bel

1. flat, wide

• Reconstructing Languages and Cultures: Abstracts and Materials from the First International Interdisciplinary Symposium on Language and Prehistory, Ann Arbor, 8-12 November, 1988