beagle

B2 Topic:Animals

US /ˈbiːɡəl/ See IPA manual

Freq #22055

Meanings

1

noun
A small dog with short legs and a smooth coat, often kept as a pet and used for hunting.

Their friendly beagle followed the children everywhere.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms beagles

Derived forms baglebeagadorbeaglepussbeaglerbeaglierpooglepuggle

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English *begel (attested in the plural begles), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Middle French beegueule (“one who keeps their mouth open”), whence modern French bégueule (“a colloquial insult said to women of low status and accused of stupidity, who always have their mouths gaped or open; a prude”); from Old French beer, bayer (“to gape, gawk”) + Old French gueule (“gullet”). The modern French bigle (“beagle”) however is a borrowing from the English. Alternatively, a modification of Middle English bedel (“beadle”) in the sense of "constable, detective". The change of /…

beegueule Middle French beer Old French gueule Old French bedel Middle English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Animals

External links

# beagle

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈbiːɡəl/
**Frequency rank:** 22055

## Meanings
1. A small dog with short legs and a smooth coat, often kept as a pet and used for hunting.

## Examples
- Their friendly beagle followed the children everywhere.

## Derived Forms
- bagle
- beagador
- beaglepuss
- beagler
- beaglier
- poogle
- puggle

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: beegueule
- Root: beer
- Root: gueule
- Root: bedel

## Etymology
Inherited from Middle English *begel (attested in the plural begles), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Middle French beegueule (“one who keeps their mouth open”), whence modern French bégueule (“a colloquial insult said to women of low status and accused of stupidity, who always have their mouths gaped or open; a prude”); from Old French beer, bayer (“to gape, gawk”) + Old French gueule (“gullet”). The modern French bigle (“beagle”) however is a borrowing from the English. Alternatively, a modification of Middle English bedel (“beadle”) in the sense of "constable, detective". The change of /…

## AI Etymology
Beagle is inherited from Middle English *begel (attested in the plural begles), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Middle French beegueule (“one who keeps their mouth open”), whence modern French bégueule (“a colloquial insult said to women of low status and accused of stupidity, who always have their mouths gaped or open; a prude”); from Old French beer, bayer (“to gape, gawk”) + Old French gueule (“gullet”). The modern French bigle (“beagle”) however is a borrowing from the English. Alternatively, a modification of Middle English bedel (“beadle”) in the sense of "constable, detective".

## Topics
- Animals

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