belle C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities US /bɛl/ UK /bɛl/ See IPA manual Homophones bell /bɛl/ Minimal pairs Sounds like bail /ɛ/ vs /eɪ/ Sounds like bale /ɛ/ vs /eɪ/ Meanings 1 noun a beautiful woman, especially the most admired at an event She was the undisputed belle of the ball that night. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · a beautiful woman,... beautygoddessstunner Word family Related forms beaubeautyembellish Etymology AI details From French belle ('beautiful woman'), feminine of beau, from Latin bellus ('pretty, handsome'). belle Old English bellus Latin View etymology graph -> Topics Describing Qualities External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # belle **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /bɛl/ **IPA (UK):** /bɛl/ ## Meanings 1. a beautiful woman, especially the most admired at an event ## Examples - She was the undisputed belle of the ball that night. ## Synonyms - beauty - goddess - stunner ## Related Forms - beau - beauty - embellish ## Roots and Affixes - Root: belle - Root: bellus ## Etymology From French belle ('beautiful woman'), feminine of beau, from Latin bellus ('pretty, handsome'). ## AI Etymology Belle comes from French belle ('beautiful woman'), feminine of beau, from Latin bellus ('pretty, handsome'). The historical trail runs through belle in French and bellus in Latin. Used as a noun, belle now means "a beautiful woman, especially the most admired at an event", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as beau, beauty, and embellish. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English. ## Topics - Describing Qualities markdown