Meanings
plural beags
- historicalA ring.
[...] and the description of that monarch in his anonymous Vita as coronatus lauro probably indicates a beag which was lighter than the formal diadema.
1970, William A. Chaney, The cult of kingship in Anglo-Saxon England1 more example
It was a mark of nobility among the German races — by some considered the origin of our coronets — and had even about it a quasi-religious character in memory of the "holy beag" (holy ring), the oath upon which was tantamount to the oath upon Thorr's hammer.
1878, The Numismatic chronicle and journal of the Numismatic Society, Great Britain: Royal Numismatic Society
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰewgʰ-“to bend”
- Proto-Germanic*baugaz
- Proto-West Germanic*baug
- Old Englishbēag“circular jewelry worn on the body: ring, armlet, crown, collar”
- Englishbeag
Learned borrowing from Old English bēag (“circular jewelry worn on the body: ring, armlet, crown, collar”), from Proto-West Germanic *baug, from Proto-Germanic *baugaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- (“to bend”). Cognate with dialectal German Baug (“ring, collar”), Icelandic baugur (“ring, circle”). Doublet of bee (“ring”) and bagel.
More words from Old English, Proto-West Germanic, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
beag. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beag
“beag.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beag. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “beag,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beag.
Source: beag on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.