English
beast
Beast comes from Old French beste ‘beast, animal’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400beste‘beast, animal’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500beeste
- Englishearliest quotation 1611beast
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400beste‘beast, animal’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500beeste
- Englishearliest quotation 1611beast
Earliest quotation: 1611, Leviticus 11:3: “Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth…”
Linked words
through Latin bēstia ‘a beast’
Today it means
noun Any four-footed land mammal.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French beste / beast