bel

Clipping of English Belarusian, from Belarusian беларуская (bjelaruskaja).

bel

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

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Belarusian terms

• 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.

• Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary

bel (plural bels)

1. Alternative form of bael.

• BLE, EBL, LEB, Leb, Leb.

• IPA^(key): /bɛl/

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

bel m

1. (anatomy) waist

   Synonym: mes

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بل (bel, “spade”), from Classical Persian بیل (bēl, “spade”).

bel m

1. spade

   Synonyms: maç, lopatë

• bela, bel-la (feminine)

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈbel/
• Syllabification: bel
• Rhymes: -el

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

   Synonyms: dal, arxa

   Belim ağrıyır. ― My back hurts.

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

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

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈbɛl]

Deverbal from belar (“to bleat”).

bel m (plural bels)

1. baa, bleat

• belar

bel m (plural bels)

1. (physics, acoustics) bel

• 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

Compare the semantic development of slet, but it is not certain whether the sense rag here is related to the sense referring to vulgar women, which is barely attested as simplex. Alternatively, the compounds featuring this words have been explained as being formed by analogy with snottebel or perhaps lellebel; note lellebellen (“to chit-chat”), which is attested as early as 1599 and may be related to German bellen (“to bark”). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

bel ? (plural bellen, diminutive belletje n)

1. (obsolete, literally) rag
2. (obsolete, figuratively) loose, vulgar woman

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

bel

1. inflection of bellen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

• IPA^(key): /bɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (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

• IPA^(key): /bél/, [bél̥]

bel

1. (of girls) bond friend (friend across ethnic boundaries)

Petrollino, Sara (2016), A Grammar of Hamar: A South Omotic language of Ethiopia‎^[1], Leiden University

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 Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
• bel and bel- in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

• 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.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈbel/ [ˈbɛl]
• Rhymes: -el
• Syllabification: bel

bél (plural bel-bel)

1. bell

   Synonym: lonceng

bèl (active mengebel, passive dibel)

1. to ring a bell
2. (colloquial) to bell, telephone

From English bel, after Alexander Graham Bell.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈbəl/ [ˈbəl]
• Rhymes: -əl
• Syllabification: bel

bêl (plural bel-bel)

1. (physics) bel

• “bel”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

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

bel

1. preconsonantal masculine singular form of bello

From Proto-Turkic *bẹ̄l(k).

bel

1. thigh, waist

• N. A. Baskakov, S.M. Šapšala, editor (1973), “bel”, in Karaimsko-Russko-Polʹskij Slovarʹ [Karaim-Russian-Polish Dictionary], Moscow: Moskva, →ISBN

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

bel m (Hebrew spelling ביל)^[1]

1. (anatomy) waist

   Synonym: talia

   • 2006, Matilda Koén-Sarano, Por el plazer de kontar‎^[2], page 229:

     I kuanto mas la karne era negra, tantos mas eran los pedasos del bel para abasho, ke eya le orava!

     And how the meat was so much blacker, especially the chunks from the waist down, that she prayed for it!

2. (clothing) waist
   • 19th century, Sa'adi Besalel a-Levi, edited by Aron Rodrigue, Sarah Abrevaya Stein, A Jewish Voice from Ottoman Salonica: The Ladino Memoir of Sa'adi Besalel A-Levi‎^[3], Stanford University Press, published 2012, →ISBN, page 262:

     El bel era muy estrecho i las mangas eran estrechas kantidad ke non les vinia la mania al braso.

     The waist was very narrow and the sleeves were so tight that there was barely room for their bracelets.

From Proto-Austronesian *qebel.

• (Standard Maguindanaon) IPA^(key): /bəl/ [bʊɭ]
• Rhymes: -əl
• Syllabification: bel

bël

1. smoke

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

bel

1. smoke

• Howard P. McKaughan, Batua A. Macaraya (1967), A Maranao Dictionary‎^[4] (overall work in Maranao and English), University of Hawaii Press

• 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 24 November 2018.

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

• Angevin: biau
• Bourbonnais-Berrichon: biau
• Bourguignon: bea
• Champenois: bé, biau
• Franc-Comtois: bia
  • Middle French: beau, bel
    • French: beau
      • → English: beau
• Norman: bel, biau
• Picard: biau, bieu (Amiens)
• Poitevin-Saintongeais: bia
  • Paydret: béou
• Walloon: bea
• → Middle English: beau; bel

• belh

From Latin bellus.

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

1. beautiful

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛl/

• 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 Polish dictionaries at PWN

Inherited from Proto-Turkic *bẹ̄l. Cognate to Turkish bel (“waist; mountain pass”).

• (Xunhua, Hualong, Qinghai; Gansu; Ili, Xinjiang) IPA^(key): /bel/, /bil/

bel (3rd person possessive bili, plural beller)

1. (anatomy) waist
2. mountain pass, mountainside
3. a waist pad, lumbar pad; padded waist support used for carrying water

• Tenishev, Edhem (1976), “bel”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow, page 447
• 林 (Lin), 莲云 (Lianyun) (1992), “bel”, in 撒拉汉汉撒拉词汇 [Salar-Chinese, Chinese-Salar Vocabulary], 成都: 四川民族出版社, →ISBN, page 23
• Yakup, Abdurishid (2002), “bel”, in An Ili Salar Vocabulary: Introduction and a Provisional Salar-English Lexicon‎^[5], Tokyo: University of Tokyo, →ISBN, page 58
• Ma, Chengjun; Han, Lianye; Ma, Weisheng (December 2010), “bel”, in 米娜瓦尔 艾比布拉 (Minavar Abibra), editor, 撒维汉词典 (Sāwéihàncídiǎn) [Salar-Uyghur-Chinese dictionary] (in Chinese), 1st edition, Beijing, →ISBN, page 8
• 马伟 (Ma Wei) (2016), “bel”, in 濒危语言——撒拉语研究 [Endangered Languages ​​- Salar Language Studies], 青海 (Qinghai): 青海师范大学 (Qinghai Normal University), Unpublished finalized project manuscript (国家社会科学基金项目结项稿, 定稿; National Social Science Fund of China), page 38

• 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 (Cyrillic spelling бе̑л, definite bȇlī, comparative bȅljī or bèlijī) (Ekavian)

1. alternative form of bȅo

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *bělъ, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰēlHs (“white surface or stain”). First attested in the 16th century.

• IPA^(key): /bèːʋ/

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

1. white

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Hard
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nom. sing.	bél	béla	bélo
singular
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	bél ind béli def	béla	bélo
genitive	bélega	béle	bélega
dative	bélemu	béli	bélemu
accusative	nominativeinan or genitiveanim	bélo	bélo
locative	bélem	béli	bélem
instrumental	bélim	bélo	bélim
dual
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	béla	béli	béli
genitive	bélih	bélih	bélih
dative	bélima	bélima	bélima
accusative	béla	béli	béli
locative	bélih	bélih	bélih
instrumental	bélima	bélima	bélima
plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	béli	béle	béla
genitive	bélih	bélih	bélih
dative	bélim	bélim	bélim
accusative	béle	béle	béla
locative	bélih	bélih	bélih
instrumental	bélimi	bélimi	bélimi

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Colors in Slovene · barve (layout · text)

bela	siva	črna
rdeča; škrlatna	oranžna; rjava	rumena; krem
svetlozelena, limeta	zelena
sinja, cian; turkizna	azurna	modra
vijolična; indigo	magenta, fuksija; vijolična, lila	roza, rožnata

• “bel”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2026

• IPA^(key): /ˈbel/ [ˈbel]
• Rhymes: -el
• Syllabification: bel

Borrowed from English bel, named after Alexander Graham Bell.

bel m (plural beles)

1. bel

   Synonym: belio

Borrowed from Occitan bell or Catalan bell.

bel (feminine bela, masculine plural beles, feminine plural belas)

1. (dated) synonym of bello (“beautiful, fair”)

• “bel”, 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

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.
4. the seat of emotions, equivalent to heart in English.
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Hibru 4:12:

     Tok bilong God em i gat laip, na em i wok strong i stap. Em i sap moa, na i winim bainat i gat tupela sap. Dispela tok i save sutim man na i go insait tru. Em i go kamap stret long dispela hap tewel na spirit i bruk, na long ol dispela hap skru na kru bilong bun i pas wantaim. Olsem na em i save gut tru long olgeta tingting na laik bilong bel bilong yumi.

     →New International Version translation

• rausim bel
• sik bilong bel hevi

• IPA^(key): /ˈbel/, [ˈbɛl]

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

bel (definite accusative beli, plural beller)

1. waist

   Belini taş yapıya yaslamıştı.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

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

bel (definite accusative beli, plural beller)

1. (dated) spade

• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “بل”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[6] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 274
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “bel2”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

From Proto-Turkic *bel-.

bel

1. mark, sign

• bel etmek

Other scripts
Latin	bel‍
Cyrillic	бел‍
Arabic	بیل

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

Borrowed from Classical Persian بیل (bēl, “spade”).

bel (plural bellar)

1. shovel, spade

Borrowed from German Berg.

bel (genitive bela, plural bels)

1. mountain
   • 1952, Arie de Jong, Diatek nulik: Gospul ma ‚Matthaeus’. Kapit: V:

     Ven Yesus älogom menamödotis, äbexänom beli.

     Seeing the crowds, Jesus went onto the 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