bequest

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English biqueste, bequeste (“will, testament, bequest”), from be +‎ -quiste, queste (“saying, utterance, testament, will, legacy”), from Old English *cwist, *cwiss (“saying”) (compare Old English andcwiss, ġecwis, uncwisse, etc.), from Proto-Germanic *kwissiz (“saying”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷet- (“to say”). Related to Old English andcwiss (“answer, reply”), Old English uncwisse (“dumb, mute”), Middle English bequethen (“to bequeath”). More at quoth, bequeath.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈkwɛst/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɛst

Noun

bequest (plural bequests)

1. The act of bequeathing or leaving by will.
2. The transfer of property upon the owner's death according to the will of the deceased.
3. That which is left by will; a legacy.
4. That which has been handed down or transmitted.
   • 1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The New Adam and Eve”, in Mosses from an Old Manse:

     Yet some odor of religion is still lingering here, the bequest of pious souls, who had grace to enjoy a foretaste of immortal life.

5. A person's inheritance; an amount of property given by will.

Synonyms

• bequeathal
• legacy
• gift
• donation

Translations

will of the deceased

• Bulgarian: завещание (bg) (zaveštanie)
• French: testament (fr) m
• Galician: manda (gl) f, testamento (gl) f, legado m
• German: Testament (de) n
• Irish: tiomna (ga) m
• Italian: lascito (it) m, testamento (it) m, volontà (it) f
• Norwegian: testament n
• Portuguese: testamento (pt) m
• Scottish Gaelic: tiomnadh m
• Spanish: testamento (es) m
• Ukrainian: запові́т m (zapovít)

a person's inheritance

• Bulgarian: наследство (bg) n (nasledstvo)
• Danish: dødsgave, dødslejegave
• Faroese: arvleiddur serarvur m, stakarvur m
• Finnish: testamenttilahjoitus
• French: héritage (fr) m, legs (fr) m or m pl
• Galician: manda (gl) f, legado m, herdanza f
• German: Erbschaft (de) f
• Icelandic: dánargjöf f
• Italian: eredità (it) f
• Latin: lēgātum (la) n
• Macedonian: наследство n (nasledstvo)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: testamentarisk gave, legat n

  Nynorsk: testamentarisk gåve

• Russian: насле́дство (ru) n (naslédstvo)
• Spanish: herencia (es) f, heredad (es) f
• Swedish: legat (sv) n, testamentsgåva c, postum gåva c
• Ukrainian: спа́док m (spádok), спа́дщина (uk) f (spádščyna)

Etymology 2

From Middle English biquesten, from the noun (see above).

Verb

bequest (third-person singular simple present bequests, present participle bequesting, simple past and past participle bequested)

1. (transitive) To give as a bequest; bequeath.

Translations

give as a bequest

• German: vererben (de), vermachen (de)
• Ukrainian: заповіда́ти impf (zapovidáty), заповісти́ (uk) pf (zapovistý)