begum

begum

See also: Begum, bégum, and Begüm

English

Etymology 1

be- +‎ gum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bəˈɡʌm/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌm

Verb

begum (third-person singular simple present begums, present participle begumming, simple past and past participle begummed)

1. (transitive) To daub or cover with gum.

Etymology 2

From Urdu بیگم‎ and Hindi बेगम (begam, “lady”), from East Turkic begüm,[1] from Beg (a provincial governor under the Ottoman Empire, a bey) + -um (feminine suffix for titles of nobility).[2] Compare خانم‎ (hanım).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeɪɡəm/, /ˈbɛɡəm/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɡəm

Noun

begum (plural begums)

1. a high-ranking Muslim woman, especially in South Asia
   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 1, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, OCLC 558196156:

     He went to India with his capital, and there, according to a wild legend in our family, he was once seen riding on an elephant, in company with a Baboon; but I think it must have been a Baboo—or a Begum.

   • 1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram‎, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:

     She was the daughter of an English officer, who having fallen in love with an Indian Begum gave up home, country, and friends, and married her.

   • 2012, “Bangladesh: Out of the basket”, in The Economist‎:

     toxic politics dominated by the bitter infighting of the “battling begums” (the widow and daughter of former presidents, who lead the two main parties).

2. the form of address for such a woman
   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 45, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, OCLC 2057953:

     It was a known fact that an envoy from an Indian Prince, a Colonel Altamont, the Nawaub of Lucknow’s prime favourite, an extraordinary man, who had, it was said, embraced Mahometanism, and undergone a thousand wild and perilous adventures was at present in this country, trying to negotiate with the Begum Clavering, the sale of the Nawaub’s celebrated nose-ring diamond, ‘the light of the Dewan.’

Translations

a high ranking woman

Bengali: বেগম (bn) (begôm) German: Begum (de) f Hindi: बेगम (hi) f (begam) Russian: бе́гума f (béguma) Swedish: begum (sv) c Telugu: బేగం (bēgaṁ) Urdu: بیگم‎ f (begam)

References

1. "begüm." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2008.
2. Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “begüm”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

Related terms

• bey (male form of begum)

Anagrams

• gumbe