FromMiddle Englishbist,beest,best, fromOld Englishbist("(thou) art"; second person singular ofbēon(“to be”)), fromProto-Germanic*biusi(“(thou) art”), equivalent tobe +-est. Cognate withWest Frisianbist(“(thou) art”),Low Germanbüst(“(thou) art”),Germanbist(“(thou) art”).
bist
- (UK dialectal, Black Country, Bristol, West Country, Northern England) Used to form the second person singular ofbe.
1875, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor,Punch:Theebist rayther too much a feelosofer, I be afeard, for me.
1904, Henry Branch,Cotswold and vale:Lookee, theebist purty, my love; lookee, theebist purty: thee hast dove's eyes betwix thy locks; thy locks be like a flock o' ship fur thickedness.
1937, Homer,The Odyssey:"[…] Stay thee where thabist, sit down on thi property; what's the sense of wanderen over the barren sea and maybe happenen an accident?"
- Wherebist goin'.
- Whereare you going?
- Howbist?
- Howare you?
bist
- (obsolete or dialectal)second-personsingularpresent ofzijn
FromOld High Germanbist. Cognate toMiddle Dutchbes,best,[1] dialectal Englishbist,beest.
Germanbist has two sources:
bist
- second-personsingularpresent ofsein
Dubist nicht mein Sohn.- You are not my son.
bist
- first/second-personsingularperfect ofbies
FromOld Englishbist("(thou) art"; second person singular ofbēon(“to be”)), fromProto-Germanic*biusi(“(thou) art”), equivalent tobeen +-est.
bist
- second-personsingularpresentindicative ofbeen
This form is less common thanart for the second-person singular.
bist
- second-personsingularpresentindicative ofbēon
bist
- second-personsingularpresentindicative ofwesan
Cognate withPersianبیست(bist).
bist
- twenty
From Tajikбист(bist).
bist
- twenty
FromOld Frisianbist, second person singular indicative ofwesa(“to be”). Cognate withEnglishbist,Germanbist.
bist
- second person singular indicative ofwêze
Ultimately fromLatinbēstia.
bist n (pluralbisten,diminutivebistjeorbistke)
- animal,beast
- Debisten binne fuort. ―Theanimals are gone.
- “beest”, inWurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch),2011
bist
- twenty
- Ronald Emmerick (1992) “Iranian”, in Jadranka Gvozdanović, editor,Indo-European Numerals, Mouton de Gruyter,→DOI,→ISBN,page312
