beş (Turkish)
Where does "beş" come from?
The Turkish number 'beş' descends directly from the Proto-Turkic form *bẹ̄ĺ, meaning five. It has remained remarkably consistent throughout its history, appearing as 'beš' in Old Turkic and persisting through Ottoman Turkish before arriving in modern Turkish.
Full etymology tree
- beş (Turkish), 'five'
- inherited بش (beş) (Ottoman Turkish), 'five (5)'
- inherited *bẹ̄ĺ(k) (Proto-Turkic)
- inherited بش (beş) (Ottoman Turkish), 'five (5)'
Ancestors
- بش (Ottoman Turkish)
- *bẹ̄ĺ (Proto-Turkic)
Cognates and doublets
- 𐰋𐱁 (Old Turkic)
Descendants and derived words
- beşlik (Turkish)
- beşlik (Turkish)
- beşparmak (Turkish)
- beşpençe (Turkish)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris