Etymology

beast

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Today it means: Any four-footed land mammal. Full definition →

Middle English beeste ← Old French beste ← Latin bēstia
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The story

  1. Latin · derived frombēstia“animal, beast”
  2. Old French · derived frombeste
  3. Middle English · inherited frombeeste
  4. English todaybeast

From Middle English beeste, beste, from Old French beste (French bête), from Latin bēstia (“animal, beast”); many cognates – see bēstia.

Words from the same roots

Latinbēstia all →

bestialbestiary

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.