betel

See also: bétel and Betel

English

Alternative forms

• beetel, beetle (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese bétele, from Malayalam വെറ്റില (veṟṟila) or Tamil வெற்றிலை (veṟṟilai).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiːtəl/
• Homophones: beetle, Beatle

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

betel (usually uncountable, plural betels)

1. Either of two (parts of) plants often used in combination:
   • 1958, R. K. Narayan, The Guide, Penguin, published 1988, page 194:

     Her face was flushed with the tingling effect of betel leaves.

   1. An evergreen Indian creeping shrub, Piper betle, whose dried leaves are chewed with betel nut: the betel pepper.
   2. The betel palm, Areca catechu, and in particular its seed, the areca nut or betel nut.
2. A quid (chewing preparation) containing these and other plant materials; paan.
   • 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 126:

     In a small Bamboo case, prettily carved and ornamented, the Dyak carries his sirih and lime for betel chewing, and his little long-bladed knife has a Bamboo sheath.

   • 1934, George Orwell, chapter 1, in Burmese Days‎^[1]:

     He went to the rail to spit out a scarlet mouthful of betel […]

   • 2002, Vātsyāyana, translated by Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar, Kama Sutra, Oxford University Press, 3.3.16, pp. 83-84:

     Within the range of his powers, he sends her, secretly, […] cosmetics such as red lac, red arsenic, yellow arsenic, red mercury sulphide, and black collyrium; sandalwood paste and saffron; and, in course of time, areca nuts and betel leaves for betel.

Derived terms

• betel bag
• betelchewing
• betel leaf
• betel nut
• betel palm
• betel pepper
• betelseller
• betel seller
• wild betel

Translations

either of two plants: the betel pepper or betel nut

• Bhojpuri: सुपारी (supārī)
• Burmese: ကွမ်းရွက်ပင် (kwam:rwakpang)
• Catalan: bètel (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 檳榔 / 槟榔 (zh) (bīnláng), 蔞葉 / 蒌叶 (zh) (lóuyè)

• Dutch: betel (nl) f
• Finnish: betelpippuri (Piper betle), betelpalmu (fi) (Areca catechu)
• French: bétel (fr) m
• German: Betelpfeffer (de) m (pepper), Betelnuss f (nut)
• Hindi: पान (hi) m (pān), सुपारी (hi) (supārī)
• Hungarian: bétel (hu)
• Indonesian: sirih (id)
• Ivatan: samoh (leaf), mamahen (nut)
• Kanakanabu: ʼaviki
• Kapampangan: luyus (nut), bulung samat (leaf)
• Khmer: ម្លូ (km) (mluu)
• Lao: ພູ (lo) (phū)
• Lü: ᦗᦴ (puu)
• Malay: sirih (ms) (Piper betle), pinang (ms) (Areca catechu)
• Muong: tlù
• Palauan: buuch
• Polish: pieprz żuwny m, pieprz betelowy m, betel (pl) m
• Portuguese: bétele (pt) m
• Russian: бете́ль (ru) m (betélʹ)
• Shan: ပူႉ (shn) (pṵ̂u)
• Spanish: betel m
• Tai Dam: ꪝꪴ (ꞌpú)
• Tamil: வெற்றிலை (ta) (veṟṟilai)
• Ternate: lele
• Thai: พลู (th) (pluu)

  Northern Thai: พลู, ᨻᩖᩪ

• Tidore: lele
• Tok Pisin: bata, daka
• Urdu: پان m (pān)
• Vietnamese: trầu (vi)
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

quid, chewing preparation

• Finnish: betel, paan (fi)
• French: bétel (fr) m
• German: Betel (de) m
• Polish: betel (pl) m
• Romanian: betel n
• Tamil: தாம்பூலம் (ta) (tāmpūlam), வெற்றிலை பாக்கு (veṟṟilai pākku)

See also

• areca
• paan

Anagrams

• let be

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese bétele \ bétel, from Malayalam വെറ്റില (veṟṟila).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeː.təl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: be‧tel
• Rhymes: -eːtəl

Noun

betel f (plural betels, no diminutive)

1. betel
   1. betel vine, Piper betle

      Synonym: betelpeper

   2. betel palm, Areca catechu

      Synonyms: betelboom, betelpalm

Derived terms

• betelblad
• betelboom
• betelnoot
• betelpalm
• betelpeper

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch beitel (“chisel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbə.təl/, [ˈbə.t̪əl]

Noun

betel (plural betel-betel)

1. (colloquial) chisel

   Synonym: pahat

Further reading

• “betel”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016
• Alan M. Stevens; A. Ed. Schmidgall-Tellings (2010), A Comprehensive Indonesian-English Dictionary‎^[2], second edition, Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, →ISBN

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ.tel/
• Rhymes: -ɛtel
• Hyphenation: bè‧tel

Noun

betel m (invariable)

1. betel leaf, Piper betle

Further reading

• betel in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Middle English

Alternative forms

• betell, beetel

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-der.?

Proto-Germanic *bautaną

Proto-Indo-European *-lósder.?

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Indo-European *-tromder.?

Proto-Germanic *-ilaz

Proto-Germanic *bautilaz

Proto-West Germanic *bautil

Old English bīetelder.

Old English bȳtel

Middle English betel

From Old English bȳtel, bīetel (“hammer”), from Proto-West Germanic *bautil (“hammer, mallet”), equivalent to beten +‎ -le.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeːtəl/

Noun

betel (plural betels)

1. mallet, maul, hammer
2. bat, club, cudgel

Derived terms

• batildore

Descendants

• English: beetle
• ⇒ Yola: balbeedhel

References

• “bẹ̄tel, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese bétele, from Malayalam വെറ്റില (veṟṟila).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ.tɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛtɛl
• Syllabification: be‧tel

Noun

betel m inan

1. betel, betel pepper (Piper betle)

   Synonyms: pieprz betelowy, pieprz żuwny

2. betel (chewing preparation)

Declension

Declension of betel

	singular	plural
nominative	betel	betle
genitive	betla	betli
dative	betlowi	betlom
accusative	betel	betle
instrumental	betlem	betlami
locative	betlu	betlach
vocative	betlu	betle

Derived terms

adjective

• betelowy

noun

• pieprz betelowy

Further reading

• “betel”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French bétel.

Noun

betel m (plural beteli)

1. (botany) betel

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	betel	betelul	beteli	betelii
genitive-dative	betel	betelului	beteli	betelilor
vocative	betelule		betelilor

Spanish

Noun

betel m (plural beteles)

1. betel

Further reading

• “betel”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025