benjamin
Syllables: ben·ja·min/ˈbɛnd͡ʒəmɪn//ˈbɛnd͡ʒəmɪn/
benjamin noun: a balsamic resin from the bark of Styrax trees used in perfumes, incense, and medicine; benzoin resin. Also the alternative letter-case form of Benjamin.
Noun (1)
benjamin (countable and uncountable, plural benjamins)
- A balsamic resin from the bark of Styrax trees used in perfumes, incense, and medicine; benzoin resin.
- A type of tree which produces benzoin or has similar properties; specifically, Styrax benzoin, Lindera benzoin; a Benjamin bush.
Noun (2)
benjamin (plural benjamins)
- A kind of upper coat for men.
- something which is not long enough to constitute a benjamin, and too long for a dress coat or spencer1826, The Atheneum, volume 18, page 236
- How the young man from Cambridge sulkily put his five great-coats in front; but was reconciled when little Miss Sharp was made to quit the carriage, and mount up beside him—when he covered her up in one of his Benjamins, and became perfectly good-humoured—1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
Proper noun capitalized: Benjamin
Benjamin (countable and uncountable, plural Benjamins)
- The youngest of the sons of Jacob and Rachel in the Bible.
- And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.
- What about the youngest child - the Benjamin - the child of its parents' mature strength and charity, always better treated than the unfortunate eldest children of their youthful ignorance and wilfulness?1908, George Bernard Shaw, Getting Married
- A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.
- "Well, who the hell ever thinks some boy with a name like Benjamin is going to kill someone?" I said. "It's like someone named Winnie the Pooh taking hostages!"2007, Mark Schreiber, Starcrossed, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN, page 53
- For it would surely improve the domestic standing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an unbudgeable hawk, and thereby indefinitely delay peace on that Middle Eastern front.2009 October 1, “Answering Iran’s Nuclear Challenge”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 17 Jun 2022
- A small city, the county seat of Knox County, Texas, United States.
- A patrilineal surname transferred from the given name.
Noun (3) capitalized: Benjamin
Benjamin (plural Benjamins)
- A $100 bill, which bears a portrait of Benjamin Franklin.
- Fuck the past, let's dwell on the 500SL, the E&J and ginger ale / The way my pockets swell to the rims with Benjamins1994, “One More Chance”, in Ready to Die, performed by The Notorious B.I.G.
- Swimmin' in women wit they own condominiums / Five plus fives, who drive millenniums / It's all about the Benjamins, what?1997, “It's All About the Benjamins”, in No Way Out, performed by Puff Daddy ft. Lil' Kim, the Lox, and The Notorious B.I.G.
- Synonyms:
- Ben, Ben Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, Franklin
Also used as
benjamin is also the alternative letter-case form of Benjamin.
benjamin meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
benjamin in Hindi
- बेंजामिन, बेंजमिन, बेन्जामिन
benjamin in Tamil
- பெஞ்சமின், பென்ஜமின், பென்ஜாமின்
benjamin in Marathi
- बेंजामिन, बेंजमिन, बेन्जामिन
benjamin in Urdu
- بنجمن, بینجمن, بینجامن
More languagesFewer languages
- benjamin in Bengali
- বেঞ্জামিন, বেনজামিন
- benjamin in Telugu
- బెంజమిన్, బెంజిమిన్, బెంజ్మిన్
- benjamin in Malayalam
- ബെഞ്ചമിൻ, ബെൻജമിൻ, ബെഞ്ജമിൻ
- benjamin in Kannada
- ಬೆಂಜಮಿನ್, ಬೆಂಜಿಮಿನ್
- benjamin in Punjabi
- ਬੈਂਜਾਮਿਨ, ਬੇਂਜਾਮਿਨ, ਬੇਨਜਾਮਿਨ
- benjamin in Gujarati
- બેંજામિન, બેન્જામિન, બેન્જમિન
- benjamin in Odia
- ବେଞ୍ଜାମିନ୍, ବେଞ୍ଜମିନ୍, ବେନ୍ଜାମିନ
- benjamin in Nepali
- बेन्जामिन, बेनजामिन, बेंजामिन
Examples of benjamin in a sentence
- Benjamin Franklin was multiskilled – a scientist, politician and a man of letters.
- Benjamin Franklin's designation of "positive" and "negative" to different charges was arbitrary.
- Benjamin Franklin established the identity of electricity and lightning.
Synonyms of benjamin
Forms of benjamin
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | benjamins |
| plural | Benjamins |
| alternative form | benjamin |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Benjamins |
Origin of benjamin
From benzoin, modified by folk etymology to match the name Benjamin.
From the image of Benjamin Franklin on the US $100 bill.
From Late Latin Benjamin, from Ancient Greek Βενιαμίν (Beniamín), from Biblical Hebrew בִּנְיָמִין (binyamīn, literally “son of the right/south or son of days”). Authorities differ on the meaning of the original Hebrew. Philo of Alexandria, the Samaritan Pentateuch The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs and Midrash Leḳaḥ-Ṭob understand יָמִין to mean "days" (a meaning attested in Daniel 12:13) understanding the name to mean "son of days (i.e. old age)" (compare to the direct translations into Arabic بِنْ يَومِين (bin yawmīn) "son of the days" and Arabic بِنْ يَمِين (bin yamīn) "son of the right hand"), a formula paraphrased in Genesis 40:22 where Benjamin is described as a child of Jacob's old age. Rashi in his commentary on Genesis also gives this as a possible meaning but favors an understanding of יָמִין to mean "right" in the sense of "the south", noting that Benjamin was the only son of Jacob born in the south. Jerome understood the name to mean "son of the right hand" and Gesenius speculated that this expression might have meant "son of good fortune".
Words formed from benjamin
Phrases with benjamin
Questions about benjamin
- What does benjamin mean?
- Benjamin means a balsamic resin from the bark of Styrax trees used in perfumes, incense, and medicine; benzoin resin.
- What is benjamin in Hindi?
- Benjamin in Hindi is बेंजामिन, बेंजमिन, बेन्जामिन. See Benjamin meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is benjamin?
- Benjamin can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce benjamin?
- Benjamin is pronounced /ˈbɛnd͡ʒəmɪn/.
- What is the plural of benjamin?
- The plural of benjamin is benjamins.
Words near benjamin in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: benjamin (page history and authors); Benjamin (page history and authors); benjamin (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); benjamin (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); benjamin (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); benjamin (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); benjamin (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); benjamin (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); benjamin (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); benjamin (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); benjamin (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); benjamin (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); benjamin (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); benjamin (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-benjamin.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Benjamin.wav.
Cite this entry: “benjamin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/benjamin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.