biz

C2+ Topic:Business & Commerce

US /bɪz/ UK /bɪz/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like viz /v/ vs /b/

noun

Meanings

1

noun
informal term for business or a particular trade or industry

After ten years in the music biz, she finally launched her own label.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · informal term for business... business trade industry commerce

Word family

Related forms business busy

Etymology

A clipped, phonetic respelling of business, from Old English bisignes ('care, anxiety, occupation'), from bisig ('busy').

bisig Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Business & Commerce Register & Style

# biz

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** bɪz
**IPA (UK):** bɪz

## Meanings
1. informal term for business or a particular trade or industry

## Examples
- After ten years in the music biz, she finally launched her own label.

## Synonyms
- business
- trade
- industry
- commerce

## Related Forms
- business
- busy

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: bisig

## Etymology
A clipped, phonetic respelling of business, from Old English bisignes ('care, anxiety, occupation'), from bisig ('busy').

## AI Etymology
Biz is a clipped, phonetic respelling of business, from Old English bisignes ('care, anxiety, occupation'), from bisig ('busy'). The historical trail runs through bisig in Old English. Used as a noun, biz now means "informal term for business or a particular trade or industry", 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 business and busy. The word is therefore part of the inherited Germanic layer of English, even where later usage has narrowed, broadened, or specialized the sense.

## Topics
- Business & Commerce
- Register & Style

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biz

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