beest

• bist

From Old English bist; equivalent to be +‎ -est. Compare German bist.

beest

1. (archaic) second-person singular present subjunctive of be
   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II, Scene ii:

     Stephano! if thou beest Stephano, touch me, and speake to me: for I am Trinculo; be not afeard, thy good friend Trinculo.

   • a. 1631, John Donne, ‘Witchcraft by a picture’, Poems (1633):

     If thou, to be so seene, beest loath, / By Sunne, or Moone, thou darknest both […].

• Beste, beets, beset, tsebe

From Middle Dutch beeste, from beste, from Old French beste, like English beast (which see for more).

• IPA^(key): /beːst/

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• Hyphenation: beest
• Rhymes: -eːst

beest n (plural beesten, diminutive beestje n)

1. An animal, a beast.

   Er zit een beestje in m'n soep.

   There is a bug in my soup.

2. An animal kept as livestock, a head.
3. (figuratively) A cruel, wild, uncivilised, uninhibited or brutal person.

   De folteraars van de grenspolitie waren sadistische beesten.

   The torturers of the border police were sadistic beasts.

   Ze is een beest.

   She's a beast in bed.

• Beest has a somewhat negative (or at least savage) connotation, whereas dier is neutral.
• In compounds, beest can have the meaning “someone who enjoys an activity”; compare English animal in party animal and also beast.

• bakbeest
• feestbeest
• hartenbeest
• koebeest
• knuffelbeest
• liegbeest
• onweersbeestje
• podiumbeest
• suikerbeest
• varkensbeest
• wildebeest
• hoe groter geest, hoe groter beest
• beestachtig
• beestenbende
• beestenboel
• beestig

• Afrikaans: bees

• beste

beest

1. Alternative form of beeste

• IPA^(key): /beːst/

beest n (plural beesten, diminutive beestje or beestke)

1. Alternative form of bist