Colloquial Variant guide

beef

adj · noun · verb · 24 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australian, New-Zealand, Received-Pronunciation: /biːf/
  • British, Southern, Standard: /bɪjf/
  • SSB Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American, Scotland: /bif/
  • rhymes with -iːf
  • CMU ARPABET: B IY1 F Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Being a bovine animal that is being raised for its meat.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • We bought three beef calves this morning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Producing or known for raising lots of beef.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • beef farms
  • beef country

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Consisting of or containing beef as an ingredient.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • beef stew

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Beefy; powerful; robust.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, slang

Examples

  • Wow, your audio setup is beef!

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • I love eating beef.
  • He was cooking beef for lunch.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cowflesh, oxflesh

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: meat, food, substance, material, stuff

6

noun

Meaning 6

The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults.

The edible portions of a cow (including those which are not meat).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Qualifier: on product packaging

Examples

  • lean finely textured beef
  • boneless lean beef trimmings

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cowflesh, oxflesh

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: meat, food, substance, material, stuff

7

noun

Meaning 7

The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults.

Muscle or musculature; size, strength or potency.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, slang, uncountable

Examples

  • Put some beef into it! We've got to get the car over the bump.
  • We've got to get some beef into the enforcement provisions of that law.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cowflesh, oxflesh

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: meat, food, substance, material, stuff

8

noun

Meaning 8

The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults.

Essence, content; the important part of a document or project.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively, slang, uncountable

Examples

  • The beef of his paper was a long rant about government.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cowflesh, oxflesh, meat

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: meat, food, substance, material, stuff

9

noun

Meaning 9

Bovine animals.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

A bovine (cow or bull) being raised for its meat.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, US, countable, uncommon

Qualifier: plural beeves

Examples

  • Do you want to raise beeves?

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

noun

Meaning 11

A grudge; dislike (of something or someone); lack of faith or trust (in something or someone); a reason for a dislike or grudge. (often + with)

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, slang, uncountable

Qualifier: plural beefs

Examples

  • He's got beef over what you said.
  • He's got a beef with everyone in the room.
  • Remember what happened last fall? That's his beef with me.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

noun

Meaning 12

A criminal charge.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, slang, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

noun

Meaning 13

Fibrous calcite or limestone, especially when occurring in a jagged layer between shales in Dorset.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Qualifier: Dorset

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

14

verb

Meaning 14

To complain.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive, slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

15

verb

Meaning 15

To add weight or strength to.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: slang, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: beef up

Antonyms: none provided

16

verb

Meaning 16

To fart; break wind.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive, slang

Examples

  • Ugh, who just beefed in here?

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

17

verb

Meaning 17

To cry.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Yorkshire, intransitive

Examples

  • David was beefing last night after Ruth told him off.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

18

verb

Meaning 18

To fail or mess up.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: slang, transitive

Examples

  • I beefed my presentation hard yesterday.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

19

verb

Meaning 19

To feud or hold a grudge against.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Multicultural-London-English, intransitive, slang

Qualifier: chiefly African-American Vernacular

Examples

  • Those two are beefing right now — best you stay out of it.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

20

verb

Meaning 20

To sing or speak loudly; to cry out.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia, intransitive, slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

21

noun

Meaning 21

cattle that are reared for their meat

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: beef cattle

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cattle, cows, kine, oxen, Bos taurus

Narrower terms: longhorn, Texas longhorn, Santa Gertrudis, Aberdeen Angus, Angus, black Angus, Charolais, Durham, shorthorn, Galloway, Hereford, whiteface, cattalo, beefalo

22

noun

Meaning 22

informal terms for objecting

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • I have a gripe about the service here

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: gripe, kick, bitch, squawk

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: objection

23

noun

Meaning 23

meat from an adult domestic bovine

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: boeuf

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: meat

Narrower terms: ground beef, hamburger, bully beef, corned beef, corn beef, pastrami

24

verb

Meaning 24

complain

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • What was he hollering about?

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: gripe, bitch, grouse, crab, squawk, bellyache, holler

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: complain, kick, plain, sound off, quetch, kvetch

History

Etymology

From Middle English beef, bef, beof, borrowed from Anglo-Norman beof, Old French buef, boef (“ox”) (modern French bœuf); from Latin bovem (“ox”), from Proto-Italic *gwōs, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gwṓws. Doublet of cow. Beef in the sense of “a grudge, argument” was originally an American slang expression: * attested as a verb “to complain” in 1888: “He'll beef an' kick like a steer an' let on he won't never wear 'em.”— New York World, 13 May; * attested as a noun “complaint, protest, grievance, sim.” in 1899: “He made a Horrible Beef because he couldn't get Loaf Sugar for his Coffee.”—Fables in Slang (1900) by George Ade, page 80. As to the possible origin of this American usage, it has been suggested that it can be traced back to a British expression for “alarm”, first recorded in 1725: "BEEF 'to alarm, as To cry beef upon us; they have discover'd us, and are in Pursuit of us". The term "beef" in this context would be a Cockney rhyming slang of thief. However, the continuous use of a similar expression, including its assumed semantic shift to 'complaint' in the United States from the 1880s onwards, needs further clarification.

Across languages

Translations

173 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: гове́жди (govéždi) — having beef as an ingredient
  • Polish: wołowy — having beef as an ingredient
  • Russian: говя́жий (govjážij) — having beef as an ingredient
  • Afrikaans: beesvleis — meat
  • Ahom: 𑜃𑜢𑜤𑜰𑜫 𑜑𑜥 (nü0 hū) — meat
  • Albanian: mish lope — meat
  • Southern Altai: бозуныҥ эди (bozunïŋ edi) — meat
  • Southern Altai: уйдыҥ эди (uydïŋ edi) — meat
  • Western Apache: magashi bitsiʼ — meat
  • Arabic: لَحْم بَقَر (laḥm baqar) — meat
  • Armenian: տավարի միս (tavari mis) — meat
  • Basque: behiki — meat
  • Belarusian: я́лавічына (jálavičyna) — meat
  • Bourbonnais-Berrichon: bœû — meat
  • Breton: bevin — meat
  • Bulgarian: гове́ждо (govéždo) — meat
  • Burmese: အမဲသား (a.mai:sa:) — meat
  • Catalan: vedella — meat
  • Cherokee: ᏩᎦ ᎭᏫᏯ (waga hawiya) — meat
  • Chinese Cantonese: 牛肉 (ngau4 juk6) — meat
  • Chinese: 牛肉 (zh-min-nan) — meat
  • Chinese Mandarin: 牛肉 (niúròu) — meat
  • Cornish: bewin — meat
  • Cornish: kig bewin — meat
  • Cornish: kig bowin — meat
  • Corsican: boie — meat
  • Corsican: boiu — meat
  • Corsican: boi — meat
  • Czech: hovězí — meat
  • Danish: oksekød — meat
  • Dutch: bief — meat
  • Dutch: biefstuk — meat
  • Dutch: rundvlees — meat
  • Esperanto: bovaĵo — meat
  • Estonian: veiseliha — meat
  • Faroese: neytakjøt — meat
  • Finnish: naudanliha — meat
  • Finnish: häränliha — meat
  • French: bœuf — meat
  • West-Frisian: kowefleis — meat
  • Galician: carne — meat
  • Georgian: ძროხის (ʒroxis) — meat
  • German: Rindfleisch — meat
  • German: Ochsenfleisch — meat
  • Greek: βοδινό (vodinó) — meat
  • Greenlandic: nersussuup neqaa — meat
  • Gujarati: ગોમાંસ (gomā̃s) — meat
  • Hebrew: בָּקָר — meat
  • Hindi: गोमांस (gomāns) — meat
  • Hindi: गोश्त (gośt) — meat
  • Hungarian: marhahús — meat
  • Icelandic: nautakjöt — meat
  • Ido: bovokarno — meat
  • Indonesian: daging sapi — meat
  • Irish: mairteoil — meat
  • Italian: manzo — meat
  • Italian: carne bovina — meat
  • Japanese: 牛肉 (gyūniku) — meat
  • Japanese: ビーフ (bīfu) — meat
  • Kazakh: сиыр еті (siyr etı) — meat
  • Khakas: інек иді (ìnek idì) — meat
  • Khmer: សាច់គោ (sac koo) — meat
  • Korean: 쇠고기 (soegogi) — meat
  • Korean: 소고기 (sogogi) — meat
  • Korean: -우 (-u) — meat
  • Korean: 우육 (uyuk) — meat
  • Kyrgyz: уй эти (uy eti) — meat
  • Lao: ຊີ້ນງົວ (sīn ngūa) — meat
  • Lao: ເນຶ້ອງົວ (nưa ngūa) — meat
  • Latin: būbula — meat
  • Latvian: liellopa gaļa — meat
  • Latvian: vērša gaļa — meat
  • Lithuanian: jautiena — meat
  • Luxembourgish: Rëndfleesch — meat
  • Macedonian: говедско (govedsko) — meat
  • Macedonian: телешко (teleško) — meat
  • Macedonian: јунешко (juneško) — meat
  • Malay: daging lembu — meat
  • Malay: daging — meat
  • Maltese: ċanga — meat
  • Manx: feill vart — meat
  • Māori: kiko kau — meat
  • Māori: mīti kau — meat
  • Māori: pīwhi — meat
  • Marathi: गोमांस (gomāusa) — meat
  • Mauritian Creole: bef — meat
  • Middle English: bef — meat
  • Mongolian: үхрийн (üxriin) — meat
  • Navajo: béégashii bitsįʼ — meat
  • Nepali: बीउ (bīu) — meat
  • Norman: viande dé vaque — meat
  • Norwegian Bokmål: storfekjøtt — meat
  • Norwegian Bokmål: oksekjøtt — meat
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: storfekjøt — meat
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: storfekjøtt — meat
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: oksekjøt — meat
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: oksekjøtt — meat
  • Occitan: buòu — meat
  • Persian: گوشت گاو (gušt-e gâv) — meat
  • Plautdietsch: Rintfleesch — meat
  • Polish: wołowina — meat
  • Portuguese: carne de vaca — meat
  • Portuguese: carne bovina — meat
  • Portuguese: carne — meat
  • Quechua: waka aycha — meat
  • Romanian: vită — meat
  • Romansh: charn-bov — meat
  • Russian: говя́дина (govjádina) — meat
  • Russian: теля́тина (teljátina) — meat
  • Northern Sami: vuovssábiergu — meat
  • Northern Sami: šibitbiergu — meat
  • Northern Sami: oamebiergu — meat
  • Samoan: povi — meat
  • Samoan: fāsipovi — meat
  • Sanskrit: गोमांस (gomāṃsa) — meat
  • Scottish Gaelic: mairtfheòil — meat
  • Serbo-Croatian: говедина — meat
  • Serbo-Croatian: телетина — meat
  • Serbo-Croatian: јунетина — meat
  • Serbo-Croatian: govedina — meat
  • Serbo-Croatian: teletina — meat
  • Serbo-Croatian: junetina — meat
  • Shor: нек эди (nek edi) — meat
  • Sindhi: ٻوڙا (ḇoṛā) — meat
  • Sinhalese: හරක් මස් (harak mas) — meat
  • Slovak: hovädzie — meat
  • Slovene: govedina — meat
  • Slovene: teletina — meat
  • Lower Sorbian: gowjeze měso — meat
  • Lower Sorbian: gowjezyna — meat
  • Upper Sorbian: howjaze mjaso — meat
  • Spanish: carne de res — meat
  • Spanish: carne de vaca — meat
  • Spanish: carne bovina — meat
  • Spanish: rotí — meat
  • Spanish: matagón — meat
  • Swahili: nyama ya ng'ombe — meat
  • Swedish: nötkött — meat
  • Tagalog: karneng baka — meat
  • Thai: เนื้อวัว (nʉ́ʉa-wuua) — meat
  • Thai: เนื้อ (nʉ́ʉa) — meat
  • Turkish: sığır eti — meat
  • Turkish: dana eti — meat
  • Ukrainian: я́ловичина (jálovyčyna) — meat
  • Urdu: گوشت — meat
  • Uyghur: كالا گۆشى (kala göshi) — meat
  • Vietnamese: thịt bò — meat
  • Volapük: bubamit — meat
  • Walloon: boû — meat
  • Welsh: cig eidion — meat
  • Welsh: bîff — meat
  • Woiwurrung: bulanga — meat
  • Yiddish: רינדפֿלייש (rindfleysh) — meat
  • Zhuang: laeblaz — meat
  • Chinese Mandarin: 牢騷 /牢骚 (láosāo) — grudge; dislike
  • Dutch: afkeer (nl) — grudge; dislike
  • Dutch: heftige ergernis — grudge; dislike
  • German: Groll — grudge; dislike
  • German: heftige Verärgerung — grudge; dislike
  • German: Rochus — grudge; dislike
  • German: Widerwillen — grudge; dislike
  • German: Beschwerde — grudge; dislike
  • Polish: kosa — grudge; dislike
  • Spanish: animosidad — grudge; dislike
  • Spanish: aversión — grudge; dislike
  • Spanish: bronca — grudge; dislike
  • Spanish: contienda — grudge; dislike
  • Spanish: discordia — grudge; dislike
  • Spanish: disputa — grudge; dislike
  • Spanish: enemistad — grudge; dislike
  • Spanish: hostilidad — grudge; dislike
  • Spanish: rencor — grudge; dislike
  • Spanish: resentimiento — grudge; dislike