# bote

> English word · Noun · IPA /bəʊt/ · frequency rank #85,054

## Definitions
1. Atonement, compensation, amends, satisfaction; as, manbote, a compensation for a man slain.
2. A privilege or allowance of necessaries, especially in feudal times.
3. A right to take wood from property not one's own.

## Etymology
Learned borrowing from Middle English bōte (“advantage, benefit, profit; relief, salvation; atonement, amends, expiation; cure”), from Old English bōt (“help, relief, advantage, remedy; compensation for an injury or wrong; (peace) offering, recompense, amends, atonement, reformation, penance, repentance”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōtu, from Proto-Germanic *bōtō (“recompense”). Doublet of boot (inherited from the same Middle English word).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bote