biche

See also: biché

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biʃ/

• Audio; “une biche”:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle French biche, from Old French biche (“doe, female deer”) and bisse (“wild animal”), of uncertain origin and relation. The form bisse is almost certainly from Vulgar Latin bīstia, variant of Latin bēstia (compare bête); however, the contemporary biche is an enigma, and possibly unrelated. It may be the Picard or Norman form of bisse, (compare chent for cent) or may share origin with Middle French bique (“nanny-goat”), believed to be derived from Proto-Germanic *bik (“goat”) or perhaps related to Icelandic bikkja (“old mare, nag”). More at bouc.

Noun

biche f (plural biches)

1. doe, hind
   1. (Canada, Métis) wapiti (elk)
2. darling, sweetheart (affectionate name for one's girlfriend)
3. cutie

Derived terms

• pied-de-biche (“crowbar”)

Etymology 2

Inflected forms.

Verb

biche

1. inflection of bicher:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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

Italian

Noun

biche f

1. plural of bica

Middle English

Noun

biche

1. Alternative form of bicche

Norman

Alternative forms

• bich (Sark)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman biche (“bitch, female dog, doe, hind”), from Middle English bicche (“bitch”). Cognate with French bique (“female goat, horse, old woman”), Icelandic bikkja (“mare, nag”), English bitch.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey):

  (file)

Noun

biche f (plural biches)

1. (Jersey) goat
2. (Jersey) drunk woman

Coordinate terms

• trop-pliein (“drunk man”)

Derived terms

• bichot (“billy goat”)
• bichette (“female kid”)

Old French

Noun

biche oblique singular, f (oblique plural biches, nominative singular biche, nominative plural biches)

1. Alternative form of bisse

Portuguese

Verb

biche

1. inflection of bichar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Rendille

Etymology

Cognate to Somali biyo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bice/

Noun

biche

1. water

Further reading

• Günther Schlee, Karaba Sahado, Rendille Proverbs in their Social and Legal Context (2002), page 92: biche
• Günther Schlee, Some open problems of Rendille grammar (1978), page 64: biche
• Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, volume 10, page 199: bice
• Harold C Fleming, Baiso and Rendille: Somali Outliers: biče'
• Hans-Jürgen Sasse, The Consonant Phonèmes of Proto-East Cushitic (PEC), A First Approximation, Afroasiatic Linguistics, volume 7, issue 1 (1979)

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbit͡ʃe/ [ˈbi.t͡ʃe]
• Rhymes: -itʃe
• Syllabification: bi‧che

Noun

biche m (plural biches)

1. Alternative spelling of viche

Further reading

• “biche”, 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