befo

See also: befo'

English

Alternative forms

• befo'

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA or enPR then please add some!

Preposition

befo

1. (chiefly in representations of African-American Vernacular) Pronunciation spelling of before.
   • 1941, Work Projects Administration, “Arkansas Narratives: Volume 7”, in Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States‎:

     She carried me to a young woman to nurse for her what she nursed at Mostor Wilks befo freedom.

   • 1993 October 8, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “Bunuel's Neglected Masterpiece”, in Chicago Reader‎:

     I use t'know when Mom was alive, befo Gramps brot me out here," Meersman replies in a delivery so flat as to make her seem not so much a bad actress as a nonactress.

Anagrams

• BofE, Febo, bofe

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈbɛ.fu]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈbɛ.fo]

Verb

befo

1. first-person singular present indicative of befar

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beˈfoː/

Verb

befō

1. inflection of befōn:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. singular present subjunctive

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Latin bifidus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbefo/ [ˈbe.fo]
• Rhymes: -efo
• Syllabification: be‧fo

Adjective

befo (feminine befa, masculine plural befos, feminine plural befas)

1. alternative form of belfo

Further reading

• “befo”, 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