Wordwyrt

beastly

/ˈbistˌli/BEEST-lee
UK form converted from the US by rule · unchecked
/ˈbistˌli/BEEST-lee

Meaninglike a beast

Common meaning: nasty or unpleasant

Tap a word part to explore

Journey through time

  1. Latinbestia‘an animal’source
  2. Old Frenchbestesource
  3. Frenchbétesource
  4. Middle Englishbestesource
  5. Englishbeast‘an animal’
  6. Englishformed in English from beastbeastly‘nasty or unpleasant’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from beast + -ly.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), BEAST, p.56 · scan

Source words

  • bestia Latin · source word “an animal”

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app