beef

CEFRA2

/bif/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    cattle that are reared for their meat.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults.

Examples

  • Have you got any preference between beef and lamb?

  • It will be four years before the definite result of beef liberalization emerges.

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
4

Also pronounced

  • /biːf/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The edible portions of a cow (including those which are not meat).

  2. Bovine animals.

  3. Muscle or musculature; size, strength or potency.

More examples

In context

  • Beef is expensive nowadays.

  • He was cooking beef for lunch.

  • I love eating beef.

Synonyms

Quick test

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Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English beef, bef, beof, borrowed from Anglo-Norman beof, Old French buef, boef (“ox”) (modern French bœuf); from Latin bovem (“ox”), from Proto-Italic *gʷōs, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws. Doublet of cow. Beef in the sense of “a grudge, argument” was originally an American slang expression: * attested as a verb “to complain” in 1888: “He'll beef an' kick like a steer an' let on he won't never wear 'em.”— New York World, 13 May; * attested as a noun “complaint, protest, grievance, sim.” in 1899: “He made a Horrible Beef because he couldn't get Loaf Sugar for his Coffee.”—Fables in Slang (1900) by George Ade, page 80. As to the possible origin of this American usage,...