*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of bey

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (bey, “gentleman, chief”), from Old Anatolian Turkish بك (beg, “ruler”), from Proto-Turkic *bēg (“lord”). See there for more.

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

A governor of a province or district in the Turkish (e.g. Ottoman) dominions. · In various other places, a prince or nobleman.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (bey, “gentleman, chief”), from Old Anatolian Turkish بك (beg, “ruler”), from Proto-Turkic *bēg (“lord”). See there for more.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Borrowed-form mentionبكota
  • Derivation mentionبكtrk-oat · ruler
  • Derivation mention*bēgtrk-pro · lord
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "bor+",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ota",
        "3": "بك",
        "4": "",
        "5": "gentleman, chief",
        "tr": "bey"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (bey, “gentleman, chief”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "trk-oat",
        "3": "بك",
        "tr": "beg",
        "t": "ruler"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Anatolian Turkish بك (beg, “ruler”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "trk-pro",
        "3": "*bēg",
        "t": "lord"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Turkic *bēg (“lord”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "بك",
      "بك#Ottoman_Turkish"
    ],
    [
      "بك",
      "بك#Old_Anatolian_Turkish"
    ],
    [
      "*bēg",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Turkic/bēg"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A governor of a province or district in the Turkish (e.g. Ottoman) dominions.",
        "In various other places, a prince or nobleman."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ],
      "recordId": "566dc53d058004eca1e81430cdfb3787234e9b0d97211ffc2e33b82ca490763b",
      "rawRecordSha256": "7a24e6fbab9986a479479d8982c1c355eacfc2e059803e5696433e0593df4435",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 228116
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for bey →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-YmV5