business

English Online Dictionary. What means business‎? What does business mean?

English

Alternative forms

• biz (clipping)
• bisoness, businesse, busynesse (obsolete)
• bizness (pronunciation spelling, AAVE)
• bidness (Southern pronunciation spelling, AAVE)

Etymology

From Middle English busines, busynes, businesse, bisynes, from Old English bisiġnes (“business, busyness”), equivalent to busy +‎ -ness. Doublet of busyness.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪz.nɪs/, /ˈbɪz.nɪz/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˈbɪz.nəs/, /ˈbɪz.nəz/
• (Southern US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɪz.nɪs/, /ˈbɪd.nɪs/
• Hyphenation: busi‧ness
• Rhymes: -ɪznɪs, -ɪznɪz, -ɪznəs, -ɪznəz, -ɪdnəs, -ɪdnəz
• (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?) (particularly: final /z/)

Noun

business (countable and uncountable, plural businesses)

1. (countable) A specific commercial enterprise or establishment.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:enterprise
2. (countable) A person's occupation, work, or trade.

3. (uncountable) Commercial, industrial, or professional activity.

4. (uncountable) The volume or amount of commercial trade.
5. (uncountable) One's dealings; patronage.

6. (uncountable) Private commercial interests taken collectively.
7. (uncountable) The management of commercial enterprises, or the study of such management.

8. (countable) A particular situation or activity.
9. (countable) Any activity or objective needing to be dealt with; especially, one of a financial or legal matter.
10. (uncountable) Something involving one personally.

11. (uncountable, parliamentary procedure) Matters that come before a body for deliberation or action.

12. (travel, uncountable) Business class, the class of seating provided by airlines between first class and coach.
14. (acting, theater) Ellipsis of stage business (“aspect of acting”)..
15. (countable, rare) The collective noun for a group of ferrets.

    Synonym: fesnyng
16. (slang, British) Something very good; top quality. (possibly from "the bee's knees")

17. (slang, uncountable) The act of defecation, or the excrement itself, particularly that of a non-human animal.

18. (slang) Disruptive shenanigans.

19. (Australian Aboriginal) matters (e.g sorry business = a funeral)

Derived terms

Related terms

• pidgin

Descendants

Translations

Adjective

business

1. Of, to, pertaining to, or used for purposes of conducting trade, commerce, governance, advocacy or other professional purposes.
2. Professional, businesslike, having concern for good business practice.
3. Supporting business, conducive to the conduct of business.

See also

• Appendix: Animals
• Appendix:English collective nouns

References

Further reading

• “business”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• business in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “business”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• busseins, buisness

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɪznɪs]

Noun

business m inan

1. business

Declension

Further reading

• “business”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “business”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English business.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪsnɪs/
• Hyphenation: busi‧ness

Noun

business m (uncountable)

1. business (commercial activity or specific commercial enterprise)

Finnish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English business.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbisnes/, [ˈbis̠ne̞s̠]
• IPA^(key): /ˈpisnes/, [ˈpis̠ne̞s̠]
• IPA^(key): /ˈbusinesː/, [ˈbus̠ine̞s̠ː]
• Rhymes: -isnes
• Hyphenation^(key): busi‧ness

Noun

business

1. Alternative spelling of bisnes

Usage notes

It may be advisable to avoid using this term in writing.

Declension

This spelling does not fit nicely into Finnish declension system and is therefore seldom used, and mainly in nominative singular.

Pronunciation "bisnes":

Pronunciation "business":

Synonyms

• See Synonyms-section under bisnes

Derived terms

Further reading

• “business”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[14] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English business.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biz.nɛs/
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): [bɪz.nɪs]

Noun

business m (plural business)

1. business, firm, company
2. business, affairs

Further reading

• “business”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English business.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbi.znes/, /ˈbi.znis/
• Rhymes: -iznes, -iznis

Noun

business m (invariable)

1. business (commercial enterprise)

   Synonyms: affare, affari, impresa

References

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English business.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiz.nɛs/
• Rhymes: -iznɛs
• Syllabification: busi‧ness

Noun

business m inan

1. (business, education) Alternative spelling of biznes

Declension

Further reading

• business in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• business in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

From Unadapted borrowing from English business.

Noun

business n (plural businessuri)

1. business

Declension

Tatar

Etymology

Borrowed from English business.

Noun

business

1. business

Declension

References

business dairäläre iğtibarın Tatarstan belän