Bene

//biːn// adj, name, noun, verb

adj, name, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A prayer, especially to God; a petition; a boon. dialectal

    "What is good for a bootless bene?"

  2. 2
    Alternative form of benne (“sesame”). alt-of, alternative, uncountable
  3. 3
    Tongue. UK, obsolete

    "Stowe your bene!"

  4. 4
    Abbreviation of eggs Benedict, an egg dish abbreviation, alt-of
  5. 5
    Abbreviation of eggs benedict, an egg dish abbreviation, alt-of
Verb
  1. 1
    Misspelling of been. alt-of, misspelling

    "That would of^([sic]) bene a good idea..."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Good. UK, obsolete

    "Egad, you carry a bene blink aloft. Come to the ken alone—no! my blowen; did not I tell you I should bring a pater cove, to chop up the whiners for Dawson?"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
acceptablebadeggs benedictgoodguccipositive

Example

More examples

"What is good for a bootless bene?"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English bene, from Old English bēn (“prayer, request, petition, favour, compulsory service”), from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (“supplication”). Cognate with Danish bøn (“prayer”), Swedish bön (“prayer”), Icelandic bæn (“prayer”), Icelandic bón (“request”). Related to ban. See also boon, bee.

Etymology 2

UK C16. Probably from Latin bene or Italian bene.

Etymology 3

Clipping of eggs benedict

Etymology 4

Clipping of eggs Benedict

Related phrases

bene bowsebene covebene darkmansbene feakerbene feaker of gybesbene lightmansbene mortcut bene

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