noun · 1 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
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Received-Pronunciation:/bɛt ˈnwɑː/
Received-Pronunciation:/beɪt-/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/bɛt ˈnwɑɹ/
rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)
1
noun
Meaning 1
Someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked; the bane of someone's existence; an object of aversion; an anathema.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: antipathy, bugbear
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French bête noire (“(figurative) intolerable person”, literally “black beast”).
Across languages
Translations
22 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Basque:
piztia beltza
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Catalan:
bèstia negra
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Chinese Mandarin:
深惡痛絕 /深恶痛绝
(shēn wù tòng jué)
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Danish:
banemand
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Dutch:
zwarte beest
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Dutch:
boeman
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Finnish:
inhokki
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
French:
bête noire
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Galician:
besta negra
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Hebrew:
כבשה שחורה
(Kivsá Shxorá)
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Manx:
ard-ghwoaieid
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Norwegian Bokmål:
banemann
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Persian:
موی دماغ
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Persian:
ادم مزاحم و غیر قابل تحمل
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Polish:
czarny lud
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Portuguese:
besta negra
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Russian:
жу́пел
(žúpel)
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Spanish:
bestia negra
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Swedish:
avsky
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Swedish:
fasa
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Swedish:
vildsvin
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
Turkish:
can düşmanı
— someone or something that is unbearable and so particularly avoided or disliked
