besoin

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French, Old French besoing; can be seen as a masculine variant of besogne, from Old French besonge, from Old Frankish *bisunnija, from *sunnijōn (“to look after”) (whence soigner), possibly through a Vulgar Latin intermediate *bisonium. Compare Italian bisogno.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bə.zwɛ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

besoin m (plural besoins)

1. need
2. want (state of being in need)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• au besoin
• avoir besoin de
• dans le besoin
• faire ses besoins
• si besoin est
• s'il est besoin

Related terms

• besogneux

Further reading

• “besoin”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• Bosnie

Louisiana Creole

Etymology

From French besoin (“need”), compare Haitian Creole bezwen.

Verb

besoin

1. to need

References

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales