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bien - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Latin bene (“well”).

bien

  1. well
  2. a lot, very

bien

  1. genitive plural of bi

bien c

  1. definite singular of bi

Inherited from Middle French bien, from Old French bien, from Latin bene (“well”).

bien (invariable, comparative meilleur)

  1. good; all right; great
  2. good looking; nice

bien (comparative mieux, superlative le mieux)

  1. well
    Ça va bien ? ― How's it going? (literally, “It goes well?”)

    Il joue vraiment bien au football.

    He plays soccer really well.
  2. indeed; so
    Synonym: alors

    Bien, on peut partir maintenant ?

    So, can we leave now?
  3. (followed by de, des, or du) a lot (of)

    Macy Gray a traversé bien des épreuves.

    Macy Gray got through a lot of ordeals.
  4. very; really
    C’est bien aimable à vous. ― it's very considerate of you.
    C’est bien beau, mais... ― It's all very well, but...
    Je te trouve bien silencieux aujourd’hui. ― You seem very quiet today.
    Il est bien moche, ce type. Ce type est vraiment moche. ― That guy is really ugly.

    • 2018, Zaz, On s'en remet jamais:

      Est-ce que les parfums s’évaporent, ou restent-ils dans notre tête comme ces étoiles qui brillent encore, mais qui sont bien loin de la fête ?

      Do the perfumes evaporate, or do they stay in our heads like these stars which still shine, but which are very far from the party?
  5. (in comparisons) much (more, less, better, etc.)

    Jérémie est bien plus fort que moi.

    Jérémie is much stronger than me.

    bien meilleur que […]

    much better than […]
  6. Used to confirm or ask for confirmation

    Tu as bien fermé les fenêtres ?

    Did you make sure to close the windows?
  • The sense "very" is of restricted use; bien cannot be used interchangeably with très or fort in all contexts.

bien m (plural biens)

  1. good as opposed to evil
  2. a commodity, a good
  3. a possession

bien

  1. Rōmaji transcription of びえん

Inherited from Old Spanish bien from Latin bene (“well”), from Old Latin *duenēd, from duenos (“good”), which gave bonus, from Proto-Italic *dwenos.

bien (Hebrew spelling ביין, plural bienes)

  1. good
  2. conforming to duty

bien (Hebrew spelling ביין)[1]

  1. well [ca. 1510[2]]
    Antonym: mal
    Coordinate term: bueno

    • 2002, Aki Yerushalayim‎[1], numbers 68-72, page 59:

      […] i no digas: fulano es fermozo i yo no, ke bien saves ke deske el ombre es muerto, ke no se kuenta salvo por animalia muerta.

      And don’t say: so and so is handsome and I’m not; you know well that since the man is dead that he doesn’t count except as a dead animal.

bien m (Hebrew spelling ביין, plural bienes)[1]

  1. good; property; possession; assets; wealth; estate

    • 1910, Reuben Eliyahu Israel, Traducsion libera de las poezias ebraicas de Roş Aşana i Kipur‎[2], Craiova: Institutul Grafic, I. Samitca şi D. Baraş, Socieatate in Comandita, →OCLC, page 9:

      Sus enemigos, sus bienes, le rovaron.
      De su bien si artaron i la espujaron ¹)
      I con croeldades su corason razgaron
      I eia no abandona sus tradisiones.
      Termine la aniada i sus maldisiones.

      Her foes stole her properties. They were satiated with her property, [then] they engaged her, and they cruelly ripped her heart, [yet] she abandoned not her traditions. End the year and its curses.
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “bien”, in Trezoro de la Lengua Djudeoespanyola.
  2. ^ Dov Cohen and Ora (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald (2019 June 19) “Coṃpendio delas šeḥiṭót (Constantinople ca. 1510): The First Judeo-Spanish Printed Publication”, in Journal of Jewish Languages, volume 7, number 1, Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 46, 48–9

From Old French bien.

bien

  1. well (in a positive way; in a way that meets or exceeds expectations)
  • bien on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)
  • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (bien, supplement)

bien m or f

  1. definite masculine singular of bie

From Latin bene.

bien (comparative and superlative mielz or miex)

  1. well
  2. indeed (used for emphasis)

bien oblique singular, m (oblique plural biens, nominative singular biens, nominative plural bien)

  1. possession; object of value
  2. good (as opposed to evil)
  • Middle French: bien
    • French: bien (adverb and noun)
  • Norman: bein (Jersey), byin (France)
  • Walloon: bén

Inherited from Latin bene (“well”), from Old Latin *duenēd, from duenos (“good”), which gave bonus, from Proto-Italic *dwenos.

bien

  1. well (efficiently)

    • c. 1200, Almeric, Fazienda de Ultramar, f. 79r.:

      La ſegunda es q̃ ſi beuiere om̃e della peſo duna dragma purga melanconia temprada miente ⁊ bien.

      The second is that if one were to drink of it the weight of one drachma, it purges black bile soon and well.

    • ca. 1300, anonymous, Tratado de agricultura de Ibn Bassal :

      E sienpre […] la asy como sienbran la simiente del albafaca. E rrieguen la muy bien.
      And always [missing word] it [i.e. pomegranate, milgrana] in the same way people scatter basil seeds. And water it very well.
  • Ralph Steele Boggs et al. (1946) “bien”, in Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, volume I, Chapel Hill, page 76

Inherited from Old Spanish bien, from Latin bene (“well”), Old Latin *duenēd, from duenos (“good”), which gave bonus, from Proto-Italic *dwenos.

  • IPA(key): /ˈbjen/ [ˈbjẽn]
  • Rhymes: -en
  • Syllabification: bien

bien

  1. well (adverbial form of bueno)
    Antonym: mal

    Toca bien el piano.

    He plays the piano well.
  2. well; fine; okay (state of being satisfied with the status quo)
    hasta aquí todo bien ― so far so good
  3. properly
  4. willingly
  5. (colloquial) very

    Ya es bien tarde.

    It's so late already.
  6. as well

    Bien podrías acabar con ello temprano.

    You might as well get it over with early.

bien m or f (masculine and feminine plural bienes)

  1. (postpositive, colloquial) well-to-do; affluent; wealthy; upper-class

    Amanda y Carlos vienen de una familia bien.

    Amanda and Carlos come from a well-to-do family.
  2. (postpositive, colloquial) exclusive; upscale; high-class

    Las colonias bienes están en las afueras de la ciudad.

    The upscale neighborhoods are in the city suburbs.

bien m (plural bienes)

  1. good (as opposed to evil)
    Antonym: mal

    Es por el bien de toda la comunidad.

    It's for the good of the whole community.
  2. goodness
  3. good; better (substantive)
    para bien o para mal ― for better or for worse

    He vuelto para bien esta vez.

    I’m back for good this time.
  4. welfare; benefit
  5. (in the plural) goods; property; possessions; assets; wealth; estate
  6. (dated) darling

    Despierta, mi bien.

    Wake up, my darling.

Borrowed from German Biene, English bee.

bien (nominative plural biens)

  1. bee

    • 1959, “Lak drenas”, in Volapükagased, number 2, page 7:

      Böd nonik kanitonöv / us lidi in yof e fred; / kriks, biens us vegonsöv / in seil de bled lü bled.

      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Terms derived from bien "bee"

From Old Frisian bēn, from Proto-Germanic *bainą.

bien n (plural biennen, diminutive bientsje)

  1. bone
  2. leg
  • “bien”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011