bli

• blî — Gheg

• IPA^(key): /bli/

bli m (plural blirë, definite bliri)

1. linden, lime tree (Tilia)
2. linden flower (used to make linden tea)

• blî — Gheg

• blishtë
• blinishtë
• blinajë

bli m (plural blij, definite blini)

1. sturgeon (Acipenser sturio)

From bili, compare Aklanon bili.

bli

1. worth

From Old Dutch *blī, from Proto-West Germanic *blīwī.

• IPA^(key): /bliː/

bli n

1. lead

   Synonym: loot

• Dutch: blei (with unetymological ei)
• Limburgish: blie

• “bli”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “bli”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

• IPA^(key): /bliː/

Short form of blive, from Danish blive, from Middle Low German bliven. Meanings 2, 3 and 4 are taken from Old Norse verða, which also has given rise to the dated vorde. In several dialects, the Low German word did not displace the Old Norse word completely. As a result, vart was allowed in past tense besides ble(i) between 1938 and 2005.

bli (imperative bli, present tense blir, simple past ble or blei, past participle blitt, present participle blivende)

1. to stay, remain.

   Hva sier du til å bli hjemme i stedet for å gå på den dumme festen?

   How about staying home instead of going to that stupid party?

   Du blir her!

   You stay here!

2. (as an auxiliary verb to create passive voice with the main verb in past participle) to be

   To personer ble arrestert for tyveri i går.

   Two people were arrested for theft yesterday.

   Hun ble grepet av angst.

   She was gripped with fear.

3. (change, development over time) to become, get, go.

   Det blir jo bare verre!

   It keeps getting worse!

   Øhm, er det bare meg, eller begynner du å bli skallet?

   Erm, is it just me, or are you going bald?

4. to be, become, will, going to, turn out,

   Når jeg blir stor skal jeg bli lege.

   When I grow up, I'm going to be a doctor.

   Festen ble en suksess!

   The party turned out to be/was a success!

5. (bills and payments) to be, come to

   Det blir 25 kroner.

   That's 25 kroner

• (to stay, remain): bestå, dvele, forbli, vedbli, vedvare
• (to become, get, be): forme seg, forvandle seg, fremkomme/framkomme, føre til, lede til, oppstå, utvikle seg, vokse seg, vorde
• (bills and payment; to be): beløpe seg til, koste

• vorde

From the expression bli(ve) på sjøen (literally “to remain at sea”). The same word as in etymology 1 above, but secondarily distinguished in form.

bli (imperative bli, present tense blir, simple past blev or bleiv, past participle blitt, present participle blivende)

1. (archaic, dialect) Alternative form of blive (“to drown”)

   Synonym: drukne

   Han falt over bord og bleiv.

   He fell over board and drowned.

• “bli” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• bi (dialectal)

Short form of blive, from Middle Norwegian blífa, from Middle Low German bliven. Meaning 2, 3 and 4 are taken from Old Norse verða. The forms vart, vorte and vorten are from verta and verte, also from Old Norse verða.

• IPA^(key): /bliː/
• Homophone: blid

bli (present tense blir, past tense blei or vart, supine blitt or vorte, past participle blitt or vorten, present participle blivande, imperative bli)

1. to stay, remain.

   Kva seier du til å bli heime i staden for å gå på den dumme festen?

   How about staying home instead of going to that stupid party?

   Du blir her!

   You stay here!

2. (as an auxiliary verb to create passive voice with the main verb in past participle) to be

   To personar vart arresterte for tjuveri i går.

   Two people were arrested for theft yesterday.

   Ho vart gripen av angst.

   She was gripped with fear.

3. (change, development over time) to become, get, go.

   Det blir jo berre verre!

   It keeps getting worse!

   Øhm, er det berre meg, eller byrjar du å bli skalla?

   Erm, is it just me, or are you going bald?

4. to be, become, will, going to, turn out,

   Når eg blir stor, skal eg bli lege.

   When I grow up, I'm going to be a doctor.

   Festen vart ein suksess!

   The party turned out to be/was a success!

5. to be necessary, to have to, to be

   Det blir å byrje på nytt, går eg ut frå.

   I have to start over again I guess.

6. (bills and payments) to be, come to

   Det blir 25 kroner.

   That's 25 kroner

to stay, remain

to become, get, be

bills and payment; to be

• kosta/koste

• bli av
• bli av med
• bli etter
• bli kor ein er
• bli kjend
• bli kjend med
• bli klar over/bli klår over
• bli med
• bli seg sjølv igjen
• bli til
• bli til at
• bli ute av seg
• bli ved med
• la bli
• la det bli med det

• verta/verte

• “bli” in The Bokmål Dictionary / The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• *blīg

From Proto-West Germanic *blīwī.

blī n

1. lead

• Middle Low German: blî, blig, blige
  • German Low German:

    Altmärkisch: Bli

    Ravensbergisch-Lippisch: Bluich

    Sauerländisch: Bley, Blǖ, Blī

    Westmünsterländisch: Blij

  • Plautdietsch: Blie
  • → Middle English: *bli
    • ⇒ Middle English: bligeter (“lead founder”)

Apocopic form of bliva, from Old Swedish bliva, from Middle Low German blîven (“to remain”), from Old Saxon bilīvan, from Proto-West Germanic *bilīban, from Proto-Germanic *bilībaną.

• IPA^(key): /bliː/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

bli (present blir, preterite blev or (dialectal) vart, supine blivit, imperative bli)

1. to become

   Jag blev glad när jag fick klappa kaninen

   I was [became] happy when I got to pet the rabbit

   Vi stannade tills det blev mörkt

   We stayed until it got [became] dark

   Det blev bra

   It turned out [became] well

   1. to turn into (with an optional preposition till)

      Vattnet blev (till) vin

      The water turned into [became] wine

      Grodan blev (till) en prins

      The frog turned into [became] a prince

      Guldet blev (till) till sand

      The gold turned into [became] sand

2. (sometimes dated) to remain, to stay

   Nisse kom och blev stående i dörröppningen

   Nisse came and stopped and remained standing in the doorway (not dated)

   Arbetet blev liggande

   The work stayed lying (not being worked on) (not dated)

   Skomakare, bli vid din läst!

   Cobbler, stick to thy last!

3. (impersonal) to be (in a future sense)

   Det ska bli kul att träffa honom

   It will be [shall become] fun to meet him

4. (auxiliary) used together with an adjective or past participle, meaning "has become"
   • 1915, Dan Andersson, Kolvaktarens Visor, Tjuvskytten

     Mätt av åren, tung och darrhänt
     var han bliven, Jägar-Vilhelm […]

     Full of the years, heavy and trembling
     was he become, Hunter-Vilhelm […]

   Han har blivit gammal

   He has become old

   Det hade blivit kallt

   It had become cold (the weather had gotten colder)

• Swedish has a much stronger preference for bli (“become”) compared to English. Bli often idiomatically translates as something other than become, but means become. See the usage notes for man and skall for two other examples of words that have a direct translation that is often unidiomatic or a poor match for tone.
• The initial examples for (sense 2) could also be analyzed as "became standing" and "became lying." Not dated for those usages.
• The sense to remain, stay used to be more common in 1950 than it is now.
• Note that bli till transitively means turn into, but intransitively means to come into being. The stress is on bli in the transitive sense, but till in the intransitive sense.
• In many dialects, the past tense blev is often replaced with vart (etymologically the past tense of varda).

• bliva (archaic, infinitive) (blifva, blifwa)
• förbli (“to remain, stay”) (förbliva, förblifva, förblifwa)
• varda (archaic except in past tense)

• bli av
• bli av med
• bli till
• bli åka av

• bli in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• bli in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• bli in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• bil, ibl.