Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

besteal

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: besteal
IPA

9

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

1

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To steal, move stealthily.

Archaic; Intransitive verb; Obsolete

Example Sentences

"Come, come, truly see what mortal man behold, the mother of beauty to them all bestole. Truly matchless thou art, my beloved. I love you more than all!"

Etymology

From Middle English bistelen, from Old English bestelan, from Proto-West Germanic *bestelan, from Proto-Germanic *bistelaną, corresponding to be- (“off, away”) + steal. Cognate with Saterland Frisian besteele, Dutch bestelen, German Low German bestehlen, Luxembourgish bestielen, German bestehlen, Swedish bestjäla (“to rob”).

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: bistelen, bestelan, *bestelan, *bistelaną

Usage

Inflected Forms

besteals (present, singular) bestealing (participle, present) bestole (past) bestolen (participle, past)

Synonyms

steal away

Questions

What does besteal mean?: To steal, move stealthily.
Where does besteal come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce besteal

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