bey

See also: Bey and bəy

Translingual

Symbol

bey

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Akuwagel.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Akuwagel terms

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (bey, “gentleman, chief”), from Old Anatolian Turkish بك (beg, “ruler”), from Proto-Turkic *bēg (“lord”). See there for more.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /beɪ/
• (AusE) IPA^(key): /bæɪ/
• (GenAm) IPA^(key): /beɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophones: bay, bae

Noun

bey (plural beys)

1. (historical) A governor of a province or district in the Turkish (e.g. Ottoman) dominions.
   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 512:

     She was chaperoned by the widow of a Bey whose son had been at Oxford with him, and this gave him the excuse to exchange a few words with her, and then to be presented to the Princess.

   • 2005, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Pashazade, page 15:

     Whether his position with the Third Circle made the difference or the fact that he ranked as a bey, life in El Iskandryia was proving easier than he'd ever dreamed possible when he stepped off the plane.

2. in various other places, a prince or nobleman

Derived terms

• begum
• beydom
• beyship

Translations

governor of a Turkish dominion

Albanian: bej (sq) m Arabic: بِيه m (bīh), بِيك m (bīk), بِك m (bik), بِك m (bek) Armenian: բեյ (hy) (bey) Azerbaijani: bəy (az) Bashkir: бей (bey) Bengali: বেগ (bn) (beg) Bulgarian: бей m (bej) Catalan: bei m Chinese: Mandarin: 貝伊 / 贝伊 (bèiyī), 巴依 (zh) (bāyī) Finnish: bey (fi) French: bey (fr) m Georgian: ბაი (bai) German: Bey (de) m, Bei (de) m, Beg (de) m Greek: μπέης (el) m (béis), βέης m (véis) Hindi: बेग़ m (beġ), बेग (hi) m (beg) Hungarian: bég (hu), bej (hu) Indonesian: bey Japanese: ベグ (begu) Kazakh: би (bi), бек (bek) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: بەگ (beg) Kyrgyz: бек (ky) (bek) Macedonian: бег m (beg) Nogai: бий (biy) Ottoman Turkish: بگ (bég) Persian: بگ (fa) (beg) Portuguese: bei (pt) m Russian: бей (ru) m (bej), бек (ru) m (bek) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: бег m Roman: beg (sh) m Southern Altai: бий (biy) Spanish: bey (es) m Tatar: бәк (tt) (bäk) Turkish: bey (tr) Tuvan: бег (beg) Uzbek: bek (uz)

References

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “bey”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

Anagrams

• 'bye, Bye, Eby, bye

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (bey), from Old Anatolian Turkish بك (beg), from Proto-Turkic *bēg (“lord”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛj/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

bey m (plural beys)

1. bey

Further reading

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

German

Preposition

bey [with dative]

1. obsolete spelling of bei

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Ottoman Turkish بك (bey), from Old Anatolian Turkish بك (beg), from Proto-Turkic *bēg (“lord”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛj/
• Rhymes: -ɛj
• Hyphenation: bèy

Noun

bey m (invariable)

1. bey

Middle English

Noun

bey

1. alternative form of bee

Spanish

Spanish Wikipedia has an article on:

bey

Wikipedia ^es

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (bey), from Old Anatolian Turkish بك (beg), from Proto-Turkic *bēg (“lord”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbei/ [ˈbei̯]
• Rhymes: -ei
• Syllabification: bey

Noun

bey m (plural beyes)

1. bey

Further reading

• “bey”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Talysh

Verb

bey

1. to be

   Ha manqədə az se rüj danq bedəm.

   Every month I go crazy for three days.

   (literally, “become crazy”)

   Dı mı ğum bedəş ya ne?

   Will you become my relative or not?

   Ço damə bedəniş?

   Why aren't you talking?

Conjugation

Simple forms																		Composite forms
Infinitive					Present stem									Past participle
be(y)					bi-/bı-									bə
Indicative present					Simple imperfect			Simple past imperfective (was)		Present optative		Imperative		Simple past perfective (became)		Future		Imperfect II composite				Plusquamperfect		preterite conditional
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular		Plural		singular	plural	singular
1	bedəm		bedəmon		əbim		əbimon	bim	bimon	bıbom	bıbomon			bəm	bəmon	bəbem	bəbemon	bedə bim		bedə bimon		bə bim	bə bimon	bə bəim
2	bedəş		bedəşon		əbiş		əbion	biş	bion	bıboş	bıboon	bıbi!	bıbən!	bəş	bəon	bəbeş	bəbeyon	bedə biş		bedə bion		bə biş	bə bion	bə bəiş
3	bedə		bedən		əbi		əbin	be	bin	bıbo	bıbon			bə	bən	bəbe	bəben	bedə be		bedə bin		bə be	bə bin	bə bəi

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish بك (bey), from Old Anatolian Turkish بك (beg, “ruler”), from Proto-Turkic *bēg (“lord”). See there for more.

Unrelated to Turkish bay (“gentleman”) (from Ottoman Turkish باي (bày, “a rich or great man”)).

Noun

bey (definite accusative beyi, plural beyler)

1. gentleman, mister
2. lord, master
3. husband

Declension

Declension of bey

singular plural nominative bey beyler definite accusative beyi beyleri dative beye beylere locative beyde beylerde ablative beyden beylerden genitive beyin beylerin Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular beyim beylerim 2nd singular beyin beylerin 3rd singular beyi beyleri 1st plural beyimiz beylerimiz 2nd plural beyiniz beyleriniz 3rd plural beyleri beyleri definite accusative singular plural 1st singular beyimi beylerimi 2nd singular beyini beylerini 3rd singular beyini beylerini 1st plural beyimizi beylerimizi 2nd plural beyinizi beylerinizi 3rd plural beylerini beylerini dative singular plural 1st singular beyime beylerime 2nd singular beyine beylerine 3rd singular beyine beylerine 1st plural beyimize beylerimize 2nd plural beyinize beylerinize 3rd plural beylerine beylerine locative singular plural 1st singular beyimde beylerimde 2nd singular beyinde beylerinde 3rd singular beyinde beylerinde 1st plural beyimizde beylerimizde 2nd plural beyinizde beylerinizde 3rd plural beylerinde beylerinde ablative singular plural 1st singular beyimden beylerimden 2nd singular beyinden beylerinden 3rd singular beyinden beylerinden 1st plural beyimizden beylerimizden 2nd plural beyinizden beylerinizden 3rd plural beylerinden beylerinden genitive singular plural 1st singular beyimin beylerimin 2nd singular beyinin beylerinin 3rd singular beyinin beylerinin 1st plural beyimizin beylerimizin 2nd plural beyinizin beylerinizin 3rd plural beylerinin beylerinin Predicative forms singular plural 1st singular beyim beylerim 2nd singular beysin beylersin 3rd singular bey beydir beyler beylerdir 1st plural beyiz beyleriz 2nd plural beysiniz beylersiniz 3rd plural beyler beylerdir

Synonyms

• bay
• beyefendi

Related terms

• ağabey
• begüm
• beybaba
• beyefendi
• beylerbeyi
• beyli
• beylik
• beysiz
• beyzade
• derebeyi

References

• Sevortjan, E. V. (1978), Etimologičeskij slovarʹ tjurkskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Turkic Languages] (in Russian), volume II, Moscow: Nauka, pages 97, 98

Wolof

Verb

bey

1. to farm

Derived terms

• beykat