Meanings
plural bizens · alternative byzen · alternative byzont
- Northern EnglandScotlandUKdialectalobsoleterareSomething monstrous or portentous; a shocking sight; sorry spectacle; disgraceful thing.
[…] and a bizen like this.
1866, Eliza Lynn Linton, Lizzie Lorton of Greyrigg, page 972 more examples
She's a shem and a bizen to all the heale town.
1823, Robert Anderson, Ballads in the Cumberland Dialect, page 155It'll be a sham an' a bizen, if we cannot find him a menseful of a dinner.
c. 1874, E. Waugh, Jannock ii. 13, as quoted in The English Dialect Dictionary and in the quotation, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1887), of J. H. Nodal and G. Milnar's Gloss[ary of the] Lancashire Dial[ect] (1875)
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰewdʰ-“to be awake, perceive fully”
- Proto-Germanic*beudaną“to ask, beg”
- Proto-Germanic*būsniz“command, precept”
- Old Norsebýsn“a wonder, a portentous thing”
- Old Englishbȳsen“example, pattern, model, similitude, parable, parallel, rule, command, precept”
- Middle Englishbysen
- Englishbizen
From Middle English bysen, partly from Old English bȳsen (“example, pattern, model, similitude, parable, parallel, rule, command, precept”), and partly from Old Norse býsn (“a wonder, a portentous thing”), both from Proto-Germanic *būsniz (“command, precept”), from Proto-Germanic *beudaną (“to ask, beg”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- (“to be awake, perceive fully”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
bizen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bizen
“bizen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bizen. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bizen,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bizen.
Source: bizen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.