Bein

//biːn// adj, adv, verb

adj, adv, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To render or make comfortable. Scotland, transitive
  2. 2
    To dry. Scotland, transitive
Adjective
  1. 1
    Wealthy; well-to-do.

    "a bein farmer"

  2. 2
    Well provided; comfortable; cosy.
Adverb
  1. 1
    Comfortably.

Etymology

From Middle English been, beene, bene (“gracious, generous, pleasant”), of unknown origin. Perhaps from Old Norse beinn (“straight, right, favourable, advantageous, convenient, friendly, fair, keen”), from Proto-Germanic *bainaz (“straight”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyh₂- (“to hit, beat”). Cognate with Scots bein, bien (“in good condition, pleasant, well-to-do, cosy, well-stocked, pleasant, keen”), Icelandic beinn (“straight, direct, hospitable”), Norwegian bein (“straight, direct, easy to deal with”). See also bain.

Related phrases

well to do

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.