Kilo Lingo

la

feminine

/bɛ.tiz/

Line drawing of bêtise
Coloured illustration of bêtise
#1906 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

something silly, a daft thing to do; stupidity

Word origin

From bête ('beast'; also 'stupid') with the noun suffix -ise. Bête itself comes from Latin bestia ('beast'), so a bêtise is literally a piece of beastliness in the sense of witlessness.

Origin
Latin
Root
bestia
English cognates
beast, bestial

Grammar

Genderfeminine
Pluralbêtises

Examples

.

Do not do anything silly while I am away.

J' , .

I said something daft, forget it.

.

The children have got up to something silly in the garden again.

C' .

It is a foolish thing to set off without a map.

, Cambrai menthe.

In the north of France, bêtises de Cambrai are mint sweets.

Where this fits

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French · Free printables

bêtise: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the French word "bêtise" (something silly, a daft thing to do; stupidity): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 39.