begum
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bəˈɡʌm/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌm
Verb
begum (third-person singular simple present begums, present participle begumming, simple past and past participle begummed)
Etymology 2
From Classical Persian بیگم (bēgum), from East Turkic begüm,[1] from beg (a title of nobility in Iran, Central Asia and South Asia) + -um (feminine suffix for titles of nobility).[2] Compare Classical Persian خانم (xānum).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbeɪɡəm/, /ˈbɛɡəm/
Audio (Southern England) (file) Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛɡəm
Noun
begum (plural begums)
- a high-ranking Muslim woman, especially in South Asia
- 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 1, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:
- He went to India with his capital, and there, according to a wild legend in our family, he was once seen riding on an elephant, in company with a Baboon; but I think it must have been a Baboo—or a Begum.
- the form of address for such a woman
- 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 45, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
- It was a known fact that an envoy from an Indian Prince, a Colonel Altamont, the Nawaub of Lucknow’s prime favourite, an extraordinary man, who had, it was said, embraced Mahometanism, and undergone a thousand wild and perilous adventures was at present in this country, trying to negotiate with the Begum Clavering, the sale of the Nawaub’s celebrated nose-ring diamond, ‘the light of the Dewan.’
Translations
a high ranking woman
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References
- "begüm." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2008.
- Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “begüm”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
Related terms
- bey (male form of begum)
Anagrams
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