biche
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /biʃ/
Audio: une biche (file)
Etymology 1
From Middle French biche, from Old French biche (“doe, female deer”) and bisse (“wild animal”), of uncertain origin and relation. The form bisse is almost certainly from Vulgar Latin bīstia, variant of Latin bēstia (compare bête); however, the contemporary biche is an enigma, and possibly unrelated. It may be the Picard form of bisse, (compare chent for cent) or may share origin with Middle French bique (“nanny-goat”), believed to be derived from Proto-Germanic *bik (“goat”) or perhaps related to Icelandic bikkja (“old mare, nag”). More at bouc.
Noun
biche f (plural biches)
- doe, hind
- (Canada, Métis) wapiti (elk)
- darling, sweetheart (affectionate name for one's girlfriend)
- cutie
Derived terms
- pied-de-biche (“crowbar”)
Etymology 2
Inflected forms.
Verb
biche
- inflection of bicher:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Further reading
- “biche”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Noun
biche f
- plural of bica
Middle English
Noun
biche
- Alternative form of bicche
Norman
Alternative forms
- bich (Sark)
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
Audio (Jersey) (file)
Noun
biche f (plural biches)
- (Jersey) goat
- (Jersey) drunk woman
Coordinate terms
- trop-pliein (“drunk man”)
Derived terms
- bichot (“billy goat”)
- bichette (“female kid”)
Old French
Noun
biche f (oblique plural biches, nominative singular biche, nominative plural biches)
- Alternative form of bisse
Rendille
Etymology
Cognate to Somali biyo.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bice/
Noun
biche
- water
Further reading
- Günther Schlee, Karaba Sahado, Rendille Proverbs in their Social and Legal Context (2002), page 92: biche
- Günther Schlee, Some open problems of Rendille grammar (1978), page 64: biche
- Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, volume 10, page 199: bice
- Harold C Fleming, Baiso and Rendille: Somali Outliers: biče'
- Hans-Jürgen Sasse, The Consonant Phonèmes of Proto-East Cushitic (PEC), A First Approximation, Afroasiatic Linguistics, volume 7, issue 1 (1979)
Spanish
Noun
biche m (plural biches)
- Alternative spelling of viche
Further reading
- “biche”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014