ben
/bɛn/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
pin pen merger/bɪn/
ben noun: a prayer; a petition. Also the alternative spelling of bene.
Noun (1)
ben (plural bens)
Preposition
ben
Adverb
ben (not comparable)
Adjective
ben (comparative benner, superlative benmost)
- Inner, interior.
Noun (2)
ben (plural bens)
Noun (3)
ben (plural bens)
- A tree, Moringa oleifera or horseradish tree of Arabia and India, which produces oil of ben.
- The winged seed of the ben tree.
- The oil of the ben seed.
Noun (4)
ben (uncountable)
- Son of (used with Hebrew and Arabic surnames).
Noun (5)
ben (plural bens)
Noun (6)
ben (plural bens)
- A benefit (performance to raise funds).
- In the Chronicles of the Stage, some curious particulars are given relating to Sir Henry Herbert and the well-known Sir William Davidson, by which we learn, amongst other things, that a “ben” or benefit at Drury Lane, two centuries ago, was worth a hundred pounds.year?, The Catholic Literary Circular (page 75)
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Ben
Ben
- A shortening of the male given name Benjamin or, less often, of Benedict.
- Ben wolved down a digestive biscuit, then stretched out on his stomach on the flagstones beside them.1990, Peter James, Sweet Heart, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, →ISBN, page 156
- After a moment of comfortable silence, with Ben tenderly rubbing his thumb gently over the back of her hand, he asked, “So what do you want to do now that you’re all stuffed full of waffley goodness?”2013, Victoria J. Hyla, Running in the Mists (Hearts Drawn Wyld Trilogy; 2), Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 300
Noun (7) capitalized: Ben
Ben (plural Bens)
- A US$100 bill, which bears a portrait of Benjamin Franklin. Often used in the plural form to indicate large sums of money.
- Synonyms:
- Ben Franklin, Benjamin, Benjamin Franklin, Franklin
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Ben
Ben
- The capital city of Ben County, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran.
- A county of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran.
Proper noun (3) capitalized: Ben
Ben
- Alternative form of Beng (“Mande language of Ivory Coast”).
Also used as
ben is also the alternative spelling of bene.
ben is also the alternative form of bin.
ben meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
ben in Hindi
- बेन, बें
ben in Marathi
- बेन, बें
ben in Urdu
- بین
ben in Bengali
- বেন
More languagesFewer languages
- ben in Telugu
- బెన్, బెన్ను, బెం
- ben in Malayalam
- ബെൻ
- ben in Kannada
- ಬೆನ್
- ben in Punjabi
- ਬੇਨ, ਬੈੱਨ
- ben in Gujarati
- બેન
- ben in Odia
- ବେନ୍
- ben in Nepali
- बेन
- ben in Arabic
- بَان bān, بِن bin, اِبْن ibn
- ben in Persian
- بن
Examples of ben in a sentence
- Ben suffers from hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, so he seldom uses words of more than three syllables.
- Ben was thrilled to lead the game.
- He could get sent to jail for breaking in like a thieving fidlam ben.
Synonyms of ben
Forms of ben
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bens |
| alternative form | bene |
| alternative form | Ben |
| alternative form | bin |
| plural | Bens |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | benner |
| superlative | benmost |
| comparative | benar |
| superlative | benat |
Origin of ben
From Middle English ben, bene, from Old English bēn (“prayer, request, favor, compulsory service”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōni, from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (“supplication”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to say”). Related to ban. More at boon.
From Middle English ben, bene, variation of bin, binne (“within”), from Old English binnan (“within, in, inside of, into”), equivalent to be- + in.
From Middle English been, from Old French and Medieval Latin, probably from a North African pronunciation of Arabic بَان (bān, “ben tree”).
Words formed from ben
- ben-end
- ben-room
- but and ben
- brit ben
- Nickie-ben
- Ben Lomond
- Ben More
- Ben Nevis
- Ben Venue
- ben-cull
- ben mort
- fidlam ben
- Ben Franklin effect
- Ben Hill County
- Big Ben
- ben-nut
- ben oil
Phrases with ben
- Ben Day
- ben mot
- ben cofe
- ben cove
- ben cull
- ben mots
- ben mott
- Ben Sira
- ben cofes
- ben coves
- ben culls
- ben morts
11 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with ben
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about ben
- What does ben mean?
- Ben means a prayer; a petition.
- What is ben in Hindi?
- Ben in Hindi is बेन, बें. See Ben meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is ben?
- Ben can be a noun, a preposition, an adverb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce ben?
- Ben is pronounced /bɛn/.
- What is the plural of ben?
- The plural of ben is bens.
Words near ben in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ben (page history and authors); Ben (page history and authors); ben (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ben (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ben (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ben (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ben (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ben (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ben (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ben (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ben (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ben (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ben (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-ben.wav, En-au-Ben.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ben.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ben. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.