bestial

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English bestial, from Old French bestial, from Late Latin bēstiālis, from Latin bēstia (“beast”) (whence English beast).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛs.ti.əl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛs.t͡ʃəl/, /ˈbis.t͡ʃəl/

Adjective

bestial (comparative more bestial, superlative most bestial)

1. (literally and figuratively) Beast-like
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 753-4:

     By thee adulterous lust was driven from men /
     Among the bestial herds to range […]

   • 1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC:

     This familiar that I called out of my own soul, and sent forth alone to do his good pleasure, was a being inherently malign and villainous; his every act and thought centered on self; drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another; relentless like a man of stone.

   • 1900 April, Willa Cather, “Eric Hermannson's Soul”, in Cosmopolitan:

     His was a bestial face, a face that bore the stamp of Nature's eternal injustice.

   • 2022 December 31, Matteo Wong, “Hollywood’s Love Affair With Fictional Languages”, in The Atlantic:

     The Game of Thrones novels were best sellers without fleshed-out Dothraki; the languages in Star Wars, one of the most successful franchises ever, are mostly gibberish, even if Han Solo claims to understand Chewbacca’s bestial warbling.

Synonyms

• beastly
• animalian

Hypernyms

• faunal

Derived terms

• bestialism
• bestialist
• bestiality
• bestialization
• bestialize
• bestialness
• unbestial

 

Related terms

• beast
• bestiary

Translations

beast-like

• Bengali: পাশবিক (bn) (paśbik), হায়ওয়ানী (bn) (haẏōẇani)
• Bulgarian: животински (bg) (životinski), зверски (bg) (zverski)
• Danish: bestialsk (da), dyrisk
• Finnish: eläimellinen (fi), petomainen (fi)
• Galician: bestial (gl)
• German: tierisch (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: θηριώδης (thēriṓdēs)

• Italian: belluino (it)
• Latin: bēluālis, bēluīnus, bēluus
• Latvian: dzīvniecisks
• Middle English: bestial
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bestialsk

  Nynorsk: bestialsk

• Polish: bestialski (pl), bestialny (archaic)
• Portuguese: bestial (pt)
• Romanian: bestial (ro), animalic (ro)
• Russian: ско́тский (ru) (skótskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: brùideil
• Spanish: bestial, animalesco
• Tatar: вәхши (wäxşi)

Etymology 2

From Middle Scots bestiall, from Middle English bestaile, from Old French bestaille, from Late Latin bēstiālia; later reinforced and remodelled on Middle French bestial, itself from Late Latin bēstiālis.

Noun

bestial pl (plural only)

2. (Scotland, obsolete) Cattle.
   • 1845, The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Forfar, Kincardine, page 94:

     […] much must depend upon the way in which bestial are bought or reared, and the state of the markets when they are sold.

Anagrams

• Stabile, ableist, albites, astilbe, bastile, libates, stabile

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin bēstiālis, from Latin bēstia (“beast”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛs.tjal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: bestiale, bestiales

Adjective

bestial (feminine bestiale, masculine plural bestiaux, feminine plural bestiales)

1. bestial

Related terms

• bête

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• baliste, établis

Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin bēstiālis, from Latin bēstia (“beast”).

Adjective

bestial m or f (plural bestiais)

1. beastly
2. massive, huge, giant
3. tremendous, fantastic, awesome

Related terms

• bestia
• bestialidade

Middle English

Alternative forms

• beestial, beestyal, bestiall, bestialle, bestyal, bestyall

Etymology

From Old French bestial, from Late Latin bēstiālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛstiˈaːl/, /ˈbɛstial/, /ˈbɛːstial/

Adjective

bestial

1. animal (of or pertaining to animals)
2. physical; non-spiritual (of faculties, knowledge, etc.)
3. beastly, depraved (lacking human sensibility)
4. stupid, unlearned

Synonyms

• beestly (all senses)

Derived terms

• bestially

Descendants

• English: bestial

References

• “bē̆stiā̆l(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old French

Etymology

First known attestation circa 1190, borrowed from Latin bēstiālis.

Adjective

bestial m (oblique and nominative feminine singular bestiale)

1. bestial (of or relating to a beast)

Related terms

• beste

Descendants

• English: bestial
• French: bestial

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin bēstiālis, from Latin bēstia (“beast”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /bes.t͡ʃiˈaw/ [bes.t͡ʃɪˈaʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /besˈt͡ʃjaw/ [besˈt͡ʃjaʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /bes.t͡ʃiˈaw/ [bes.t͡ʃɪˈaʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /besˈt͡ʃjaw/ [besˈt͡ʃjaʊ̯]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /beʃ.t͡ʃiˈaw/ [beʃ.t͡ʃɪˈaʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /beʃˈt͡ʃjaw/ [beʃˈt͡ʃjaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɨʃˈtjal/ [bɨʃˈtjaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɨʃˈtjal/ [bɨʃˈtjaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɨʃˈtja.li/

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: bes‧ti‧al

Adjective

bestial m or f (plural bestiais)

1. bestial; brutish
2. beastly
3. (informal) cool

Related terms

• besta
• bestalidade

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French bestial, Late Latin bēstiālis, from Latin bēstia (“beast”). By surface analysis, bestie +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bes.tiˈal]

Adjective

bestial m or n (feminine singular bestială, masculine plural bestiali, feminine and neuter plural bestiale)

1. bestial, animal
2. (informal) cool

Usage notes

As indicated by the informal meaning of "cool", this word does not have the same negative connotations as in English.

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	bestial		bestială		bestiali	bestiale
	definite	bestialul		bestiala		bestialii	bestialele
genitive- dative	indefinite	bestial		bestiale		bestiali	bestiale
	definite	bestialului		bestialei		bestialelor	bestialilor

Synonyms

• animalic
• feroce
• fioros
• sălbatic

Related terms

• bestialitate
• bestie

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin bēstiālis, from Latin bēstia (“beast”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /besˈtjal/ [besˈt̪jal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: bes‧tial

Adjective

bestial m or f (masculine and feminine plural bestiales)

1. beastly
2. massive, huge, giant
3. tremendous, fantastic, awesome

Derived terms

• bestialmente

 

Related terms

• bestia
• bestialidad

 

Further reading

• “bestial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10