Betelgeuse

See also: Bételgeuse

English

Etymology

Ultimately from an alteration of the Arabic يَد الجَوْزَاء (yad al-jawzāʔ, “hand of the central one”), from يَد (yad, “hand”) + جَوْزَاء (jawzāʔ, “central one”).

Jawzā, ‘the central one’, initially referred to Gemini among the Arabs, but at some point they decided to refer to Orion by that name. During the Middle Ages the first character of the name, yā’ (ي, with two underdots), was misread as a bā’ (ب, with one underdot) when transliterating into Latin, and Yad al-Jauza became Bedalgeuze. This was then misinterpreted during the Renaissance as deriving from a corruption of an original Arabic form إِبْط الجَوْزَاء (ʔibṭ al-jawzāʔ, “armpit of the central one”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbiːtldʒuːz/, /ˈbiːtldʒuːs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbidlˌdʒus/, /ˈbɛdlˌdʒus/, /ˈbidlˌdʒuz/, /ˈbɛdlˌdʒuz/

Proper noun

Betelgeuse

1. (astronomy) A bright-red supergiant intrinsic variable star, the second brightest star in the constellation Orion; Alpha (α) Orionis. It is the tenth brightest star in the nighttime, and one of the largest stars known.

   Synonym: Alpha Orionis

   • 2023 May 15, Meghan Bartels, “Betelguese’s Brightening Raises Hopes for a Supernova Spectacle”, in Scientific American‎^[1], archived from the original on 2023-05-15‎^[2]:

     Even if you don’t know it by name, the red supergiant star Betelgeuse is one of the most familiar sights in the heavens above—a gleaming ruddy dot at the shoulder of the constellation Orion. Although already quite difficult to overlook, Betelgeuse has become even more eye-catching across the past few years because of major changes in its appearance—unexpected fluctuations in its brightness that remain poorly understood.

Alternative forms

• Beetlejuice (eye dialect)

Translations

supergiant

• Afrikaans: Betelgeuse
• Arabic: مَنْكِب اَلْجَوْزَاء m (mankib al-jawzāʔ)
• Armenian: Բետելգեյզե (Betelgeyze)
• Asturian: Betelgeuse
• Azerbaijani: Bətəlqeyzə
• Basque: Betelgeuse
• Belarusian: Бетэльгейзэ (Bjetelʹhjejze)
• Bengali: আর্দ্রা (bn) (ardra)
• Breton: Betelgeuse
• Bulgarian: Бетелгейзе (Betelgejze)
• Burmese: ဘီတယ်ဂျူးစ် (bhitaigyuc:)
• Central Franconian: Beteijeuze
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 參宿四／参宿四 (sam¹ sau³ sei³)

  Mandarin: 參宿四／参宿四 (zh) (Shēnxiùsì)

  Wu: 参宿四

• Czech: Betelgeuze
• Danish: Betelgeuse
• Dutch: Betelgeuze (nl)
• Estonian: Betelgeuse (et)
• Finnish: Betelgeuze
• French: Bételgeuse (fr) f
• Galician: Betelgeuse
• Georgian: ბეთელგეიზე (betelgeize)
• German: Beteigeuze (de) m
• Greek: Μπετελγκέζ (Betelgkéz), Βετελγόζης (Vetelgózis)
• Hebrew: ביטלג'וז
• Hungarian: Betelgeuze (hu)
• Icelandic: Betelgás
• Indonesian: Betelgeuse
• Irish: Betelgeuse
• Italian: Betelgeuse (it) f
• Japanese: ベテルギウス (ja) (Beterugiusu)
• Javanese: Betelgeuse
• Korean: 베텔게우스 (betelge'useu), 베텔기우스 (betelgiuseu)
• Latin: Betelgeuze, Betelgeuse
• Latvian: Betelgeize
• Limburgish: Betelgeuze
• Lithuanian: Betelgeizė
• Low German:

  German Low German: Beteigeuze

• Luxembourgish: Betelgeuse
• Macedonian: Бетелгез (Betelgez)
• Malay: Betelgeuse
• Malayalam: തിരുവാതിര (ml) (tiruvātira)
• Maori: Pūtara
• Marathi: काक्षी (kākṣī)
• Nauruan: Betelgeuse
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Betelgeuse

  Nynorsk: Betelgeuse

• Occitan: Betelgeuse
• Ossetian: Бетельгейзе (Betelʹgejze)
• Persian: ابط‌الجوزا (fa) (ibt al-joza)
• Polish: Betelgeza (pl) f
• Portuguese: Betelgeuse f
• Punjabi: ਆਦਰਾ (ādarā)
• Romanian: Betelgeuse
• Russian: Бетельге́йзе (ru) (Betelʹgéjze)
• Scottish Gaelic: An Spor Dearg m
• Serbo-Croatian: Betelgez
• Sicilian: Betelgeuse
• Slovak: Betelgeuze
• Slovene: Betelgeza
• Swahili: Ibuti la Jauza
• Swedish: Betelgeuse
• Tajik: Байтулҷавзо (Baytuljavzo)
• Tamil: திருவாதிரை (ta) (tiruvātirai)
• Tatar: Бителҗәүза (Bitelcäwza)
• Thai: ดาวบีเทลจุส (daao beetenjòot)
• Turkish: Betelgeuse
• Ukrainian: Бетельгейзе (Betelʹhejze)
• Uzbek: Betelgeyze
• Vietnamese: Betelgeuse
• Waray-Waray: Betelgeuse
• West Flemish: Betelgeuze

Further reading

• “Betelgeuse”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• Betelgeuse at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
• “Betelgeuse, pn.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “Betelgeuse”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “Betelgeuse”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “Betelgeuse” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [b̥etˢɛlˈɡ̊øːsə]

Proper noun

Betelgeuse (genitive Betelgeuses)

1. Betelgeuse

Italian

Etymology

Ultimately from an alteration of the Arabic يَد الجَوْزَاء (yad al-jawzāʔ, “hand of the central one”), from يَد (yad, “hand”) + جَوْزَاء (jawzāʔ, “central one”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /be.telˈd͡ʒɛw.ze/
• Rhymes: -ɛwze
• Hyphenation: Be‧tel‧gèu‧se

Proper noun

Betelgeuse f

1. Betelgeuse

Further reading

Betelgeuse in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)