No. 2,128 in French
bête
"Bête" means "animal" or "stupid" in English, depending on context.
In a sentence
Le chat est une bête très agile.
The cat is a very agile beast.
In this sentence, 'bête' is used to refer to an animal, highlighting its physical characteristics.
Ne sois pas bête, réfléchis avant d'agir.
Don't be silly, think before acting.
Here, 'bête' is employed metaphorically to describe someone acting foolishly or without thinking.
Cette idée est sacrément bête.
That idea is incredibly silly.
In this case, 'bête' is used informally to describe something that lacks sense or is absurd.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “bête” in actual French podcasts.
Find “bête” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays French podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there.
Get the appFrench books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).