bey
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L316962 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /beɪ/ / /bæɪ/
name
Etymology: * As a north German and Dutch surname, variant of Beye, Baye, vowel variants of the Danish surname Boye. * Also as a German surname, Germanized from Lower Sorbian baj (“storyteller”), from Proto-Slavic *bajь, related to *bajati (“to tell”). Compare Bay. * As a French surname, from several placenames in France, from a regional variant of bief (“mill-race”). * As an Islamic surname (generally Algeria), from Turkish bey (see Beg). See also Pasha, Agha.
- A surname.
- Beyoncé.
noun
Etymology: Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (bey, “gentleman, chief”), from Old Anatolian Turkish بك (beg, “ruler”), from Proto-Turkic *bēg (“lord”). See there for more.
- A governor of a province or district in the Turkish (e.g. Ottoman) dominions.
“She was chaperoned by the widow of a Bey whose son had been at Oxford with him, and this gave him the excuse to exchange a few words with her, and then to be presented to the Princess.”
“Whether his position with the Third Circle made the difference or the fact that he ranked as a bey, life in El Iskandryia was proving easier than he'd ever dreamed possible when he stepped off the plane.”
- in various other places, a prince or nobleman