בעל

From Proto-Semitic *baʕl-.

• Rhymes: -al

בַּעַל • (bá'al) m (plural indefinite בְּעָלִים‎, singular construct בַּעַל־, plural construct בַּעֲלֵי־‎, feminine counterpart בַּעֲלָה‎) [pattern: קֶטֶל]

1. master, owner
2. husband, male spouse

בְּעָל • (bə'al) m

1. lord, idol

• To avoid any ambiguity or hint of sexism, most modern speakers keep the two senses of בעל strictly distinct as follows:
  • When בעל has the sense of husband, it is always inflected to indicate a possessor. In the case that its possessor is not a personal pronoun, this produces some redundancy; for example, "Miriam's husband" is translated as בעלה של מרים (ba`aláh shel Miryam), which literally means "her-husband of Miriam". (This sort of construction can occur with other nouns as well, but usually only in more formal contexts.)
  • When בעל has the sense of owner, it is seldom so inflected.
• However, some speakers do consider it sexist to use בעל with the sense of husband at all, instead preferring the word איש‎ ('ish, “man”), as it is more directly analogous to the word אישה‎ ('isháh, “woman, wife”).

• בַּעַל דִּין‎ (ba'al dín)
• בַּעַל זְבוּב‎ (bá’al zvuv)
• בַּעַל זָנָב‎ (bá'al zanáv)
• בעל חיים‎ (bá'al ḥayím)
• בַּעַל תְּשׁוּבָה‎ (ba'al-t'shuvá)

• Yiddish: בעל־הבית‎ (balebos)
• Ladino: balabay

• אָדוֹן‎

בַּעַל • (bá'al) m [pattern: קֶטֶל]

1. Baal (Canaanite deity)

• English: Baal

Verbal form related to the above noun.

בָּעַל • (ba'ál) (pa'al construction)

1. (dated) to have sexual intercourse
   • a. 500 C.E., Babylonian Talmud, Chagigah 15a:

     ‏יכול אני לבעול כמה בעילות בלא דם‎‎

     I can have intercourse multiple times [with a woman with an intact hymen] without [causing] bleeding.

• H1168 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible

• בלע‎