Meanings
- Northern EnglandUKWest CountrydialectalBlack Country; Bristol; Black Country; BristolUsed to form the second person singular of be.
How bist? How are you?
4 more examples
Thee bist rayther too much a feelosofer, I be afeard, for me.
1875, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, PunchLookee, thee bist purty, my love; lookee, thee bist purty: thee hast dove's eyes betwix thy locks; thy locks be like a flock o' ship fur thickedness.
1904, Henry Branch, Cotswold and vale"[…] Stay thee where tha bist, sit down on thi property; what's the sense of wanderen over the barren sea and maybe happenen an accident?"
1937, Homer, The OdysseyWhere bist goin'. Where are you going?
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*biusi“(thou) art”
- Old Englishbist
- Middle Englishbist
- Englishbist
From Middle English bist, beest, best, from Old English bist ("(thou) art"; second person singular of bēon (“to be”)), from Proto-Germanic *biusi (“(thou) art”), equivalent to be + -est. Cognate with West Frisian bist (“(thou) art”), Low German büst (“(thou) art”), German bist (“(thou) art”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch bistu, bist
- bistuare you
- bistare you
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with bist
Anagrams
Cite this entry
bist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bist
“bist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bist. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bist,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bist.
Source: bist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.