bey

From Turkish bey (“gentleman, chief”), from Ottoman Turkish بك‎ (beğ, bey), from Old Turkic 𐰋𐰏‎ (b²g /bég/, “chief, titled man”).

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

bey (plural beys)

1. (historical) A governor of a province or district in the Turkish dominions
   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 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, p. 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

• begum

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

• 'bye, Bye, Eby, bye

From Turkish bey, from Ottoman Turkish بك‎ (bey).

• IPA^(key): /bɛj/

• audio

  (file)

bey m (plural beys)

1. bey

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

bey

1. Obsolete spelling of bei

Unadapted borrowing from Turkish bey, from Ottoman Turkish بك‎ (bey).

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

bey m (invariable)

1. bey

bey

1. Alternative form of bee

From Turkish bey.

bey m (plural beyes)

1. bey

• “bey”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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?

From Ottoman Turkish بك‎ (beg), from Old Anatolian Turkish بك‎ (beg, “ruler”). Akin to Old Turkic 𐰋𐰏‎ (beg, “chief, titled man”), Old Uyghur [script needed] (beg, “lord, chief”), Karakhanid باكْ‎ (bēg, “chief, a woman's husband”).

There are different theories about the further etymology of the word.

• According to one theory the word may ultimately come from Middle Chinese 百 (MC pˠæk̚, “hundred”),[1] 佰 (MC pˠæk̚, “the head of a hundred men”),[2] or 伯 (MC pˠæk̚, “eldest brother, father's older brother > count”) ~ 霸 (MC pˠæk̚, “hegemon”).
• Another theory states that the word may have its origins in Middle Iranian,[3] specifically Sogdian [script needed] (baga, “lord, master”) or Old Persian 𐏎 (BG, “god”), all from Proto-Iranian *bagáh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰagás (“god”, literally “dispenser”).[4] However, German Turkologist Gerhard Doerfer assessed the derivation from an Iranian language as quite uncertain and pointed out that the word may be genuinely Turkic.[5][6]

Unrelated to Turkish bay (“gentleman”).

bey (definite accusative beyi, plural beyler)

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

• bay
• beyefendi

• → Albanian: bej
• → Armenian: բեկ (bek)
• → Azerbaijani: bəy
• → Bulgarian: бей (bej)
• → Dutch: bei
• → English: bey
• → Finnish: bey
• → French: bey
• → Georgian: ბაი (bai)
• → German: Bey
• → Greek: μπέης (béis), βέης (véis)
• → Hungarian: bey
• → Portuguese: bei
• → Russian: бей (bej)
• → Spanish: bey

bey

1. to farm