Word.ws English Dictionary

abe

/eɪb//əˈbi/

abe verb: to be.

Verb

abe

  1. (UK, infinitive, intransitive, uncommon) To be.
    • Let it abe, I say.1839, The New Monthly Magazine, volume 1, page 527
    • But if it amuses her I let it abe.1864, Charles Dickens, Household Words, page 186

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Abe

Abe

  1. A diminutive of the male given name Abraham, from Hebrew.

Noun capitalized: Abe

Abe (plural Abes)

  1. (US, slang) A five-dollar bill.
    • "Gambling's not my form of masochism," said Carl. "Huh?" "So how much?" "The wad's mostly ones. Some Jeffersons. Two or three Abes."1996, J. Madison Davis, And the Angels Sing, page 210
    Synonyms:
    Abe Lincoln, Lincoln

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Abe

IPA/ˈɑːbeɪ/

Abe (plural Abes)

  1. A surname from Japanese.

Proper noun (3) capitalized: ABE

ABE

  1. (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, abbreviation, especially, humorous) Initialism of anyone but England: any team playing a sports match against the England team.
    • As the World Cup starts, it is interesting to note the large number of people around the world cheering on ABE to win, including many millions of British.2012 June 12, The Chief, “OT: Come on ABE!!”, in alt.talk.royalty (Usenet)
    • 'ABE' T-shirts will sell well north of the border this summer as the World Cup gets underway in Brazil.2014, Scott Caladon, Darke Mission, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 507

Synonyms of abe

Forms of abe

Noun
pluralAbes
Proper noun
pluralAbes

Origin of abe

Probably a- + be.

A shortening from Abraham. In the slang sense for money, refers to the picture of Abraham Lincoln on the currency.

Borrowed from Japanese 阿部 (Abe), Japanese 安部 (Abe) or Japanese 安倍 (Abe).

Words formed from abe

Phrases with abe

Words that rhyme with abe

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about abe

What does abe mean?
Abe means to be.
What part of speech is abe?
Abe can be a verb, a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce abe?
Abe is pronounced /əˈbi/ (UK).

Words near abe in the dictionary

  1. Abdurakhmanov
  2. Abdurrahman
  3. Abdurrahmans
  4. Abdy
  5. Abdys
  6. abe
  7. Abe Lincoln
  8. Abe Lincolns
  9. Abe's salamander
  10. abeam
  11. abear

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: abe (page history and authors); Abe (page history and authors); ABE (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-abe.wav, En-au-Abe.ogg.

Cite this entry: “abe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/abe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.