eldertongue

Modern English → Old English

Old English word for beaver

2 headwords match “beaver”, ranked by the scoring in the data pipeline. The 2 strongest follow; befer ranks first.

  1. 1

    befer

    score 24

    noun, masculine · strong a-stem · 6 inflected forms

    beaver — beaver

    • opens the headword's definition
    • listed as an English descendant
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular befer
    genitive singular befres
    dative singular befre
    accusative singular befer
    nominative plural befras
    genitive plural befra
  2. 2

    bifren

    score 13

    adjective · 12 inflected forms

    beaver — beaver; of or relating to beavers

    • opens the headword's definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    strong nominative singular masculine bifren
    strong nominative singular feminine bifrenu, bifreno
    strong nominative singular neuter bifren
    strong accusative singular masculine bifrenne
    strong accusative singular feminine bifrene
    strong accusative singular neuter bifren

How this ranking works

Scores are computed once, when the site is built, from the Wiktionary data. Every headword whose definitions mention “beaver” gets the points below; the candidates are then sorted by total. The score is shown on each entry above so the order can be checked rather than trusted.

The English word opens the headword's definition+10
It appears later in the first definition+6
It appears in any definition+3
It is in the headword's links+2
It is listed as an English descendant (etymological evidence)+9
The headword has an inflection table+3
Part of speech is a proper noun−5
Part of speech is a verb (-ian derivations are noisy)−3
The headword is an alternative form−6
The first definition is longer than three words−2

A candidate has to be a real headword with its own entry: inflected forms and grammatical terminology (genitive, nominative, preterite, …) never appear here.

Not one of these?

The match may be a different sense of “beaver”, or an inflected form rather than a headword. Look up the form directly — the entry page marks the grammatical case.

Candidates derived from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0). Each entry links to its source page. · CC BY-SA 4.0 and attribution · CC BY-SA 4.0