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beau

Etymology and origin of the French word beau

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 881, Séquence de sainte Eulalie
Inherited from
Latin bellus via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (bonus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin bellus
French beau
French beaucoup

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bo/[1]
  • IPA (obsolete): /bjo/[1]

Forms

beau (masculine singular before vowel bel, feminine belle, masculine plural beaux, feminine plural belles)[1] Old French bel (about 881), then biau and beau, bel is kept before a vowel and in some phrases.[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French bel, inherited from Latin bellus (“pretty, charming”).[2][4][3][1][5] “Bellus”, a familiar diminutive of bonus (“good”) (old “duenos”), was used in classical Latin of women and children, and of men only ironically.[2][4][6] Etymonline traces it to a diminutive “*dwenelo-” of an Indo-European root “*deu-”, a reconstruction de Vaan calls disputed.[7] Being affectionate, it replaced pulcher (“beautiful”) and decōrus (“seemly”) in popular Latin; in part of the Romance area fōrmōsus won instead, giving Spanish hermoso and Romanian frumos.[2][4] In the southern dialects of France it competes with “brave”, “gent”, “gentil” and “poulit”.[2][4]

Cognate with Italian bello, Occitan bèl, Catalan bell, Spanish bello and Portuguese belo.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as bel in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie (about 881), of a being pleasing to the eye.[2][8][3]

Semantic evolution

From the first texts bel described what pleases the eye, in a being (about 881), a thing (about 980) or a natural phenomenon (1080), and also what pleases the ear.[2] The link between “beautiful”, “good” and “well”, already present in Latin, still shapes the word's senses.[2] From the 10th century it was a flattering term of address (about 980), and this use explains the kinship terms beau-frère (1386), belle-mère (1429), beau-père (1466) and belle-fille (about 1470), which ousted older words of Latin origin such as serorge, fillâtre and suire.[2][4]

Said of people, it came to mean “well dressed, smartened up” (se faire beau, se faire belle).[2] The derivative beauté dates from about 1080, and belette (13th century) is a euphemism, “the pretty one”, meant to ward off the animal's harm.[4] English borrowed beau “fop” (1680s) and “suitor” (1720), and belle (1620s).[7]

Timeline

  • c. 881 – Bel in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie.[8][2]
  • c. 980 – A flattering term of address.[2]
  • c. 1080 – Beltet “beauty” in the Chanson de Roland.[4]
  • 1386 – Beau-frère.[4]
  • 1466 – Beau-père.[4]
  • 1620s – English borrows belle.[7]
  • 1680s – English beau “fop”.[7]
  • 1794 – Se mettre sur son beau “to dress up”.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Beautiful, handsome: une belle femme, un bel homme.[8][1]
  2. Fine, nice: il fait beau, du beau temps.[1][8]
  3. Morally fine, noble: une belle action.[8][2]
  4. Considerable: une belle somme, un beau jour, one fine day.[8]
  5. Ironically, of something bad: un beau gâchis.[8]
  6. Avoir beau + infinitive: to do something in vain: J'ai beau crier, il n'entend pas.[1][8]

Noun

  1. Le beau: the beautiful, beauty as an aesthetic value.[6]
  2. Un vieux beau: an old dandy, faire le beau, of a dog, to sit up and beg.[6][9]
  3. Une belle: a beautiful woman; one's sweetheart.[6]
  4. (Louisiana) A boyfriend.[1]

Word family

  • beau-
  • beaux-arts
  • bellâtre
  • bellement
  • beauté
  • belette
  • bellot
  • beaucoup
  • beau-père
  • belle-fille
  • belle-sœur
  • embellissement
  • embellie

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 319a
  6. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Derived terms

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Beau.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/beau. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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