# belle
## English
### Etymology

From French belle (“beautiful”), from Latin bella.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /bɛl/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛl
* Homophone: bell

### Noun

belle (plural belles)
* An attractive woman.
    In her new dress she felt like the belle of the ball.
* (dated) A fellow gay man.

#### Derived terms

* aquabelle
* belle dame sans merci
* belledom
* bellehood
* cagebelle
* croshabell
* southern belle
* volleybelle

#### Translations
### See also

* bad belle
* belle assemblée
* Belle Creek
* belle dame
* belle laide
* belle passion
* belles-lettres
* Southern belle

### References

* “belle”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* ↑ A. F. Niemoeller, "A Glossary of Homosexual Slang," Fact 2, no. 1 (Jan-Feb 1965): 25

### Anagrams

* Lebel

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Verb

belle
* (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of bellen

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /bɛl/
* Audio:(file)
* Homophones: bel, belles

### Adjective

belle
* feminine singular of beau

#### Derived terms

* Belle
* Bellefontaine

#### Descendants

* English: belle
* English: Belle

### Noun

belle f (plural belles)
* beautiful woman, belle, beauty
* (Louisiana) girlfriend

#### Coordinate terms

(girlfriend):
* beau
* blonde
* femme
* gars
* homme

#### Derived terms

* Belle au bois dormant
* faire la belle
* jouer la belle
* se faire la belle

### Further reading

* “belle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## German
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛlə

### Verb

belle
* inflection of bellen:
** first-person singular present
** first/third-person singular subjunctive I
** singular imperative

## Interlingua
### Adjective

belle (comparative plus belle, superlative le plus belle)
* beautiful

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈbɛl.le/
* Rhymes: -ɛlle
* Hyphenation: bèl‧le

### Adjective

belle
* feminine plural of bello

### Noun

belle f
* plural of bella

## Latin
### Etymology

From bellus (“pretty, handsome”).

### Adverb

bellē (comparative bellius, superlative bellissimē)
* well, neatly, perfectly
* prettily, delightfully

#### Derived terms

* perbellē

#### Related terms

* bellus
* bonus

### References

* “belle”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “belle”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* belle in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* belle in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

## Norman
### Pronunciation

* Audio (Jersey):(file)

### Adjective

belle
* feminine singular of bieau
* feminine singular of biau

## Old English
### Alternative forms

* bell

### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *bellā, from Proto-Germanic *bellǭ.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈbel.le/, [ˈbeɫ.ɫe]

### Noun

belle f
* bell
    bellan hringanto ring a bell
** late 10th century, Ælfric, "St. Benedict, Abbot"
    Se dēofol wearp ānne stān tō þǣre bellan þæt hēo eall tōsprang.The Devil threw a rock at the bell so it broke into pieces.

#### Declension

Weak:

#### Descendants

* Middle English: belle
** Scots: bell
** English: bell
*** → Fiji Hindi: belo
*** → Japanese: ベル (beru)
*** → Korean: 벨 (bel)

## Turkish
### Verb

belle
* second-person singular imperative of bellemek