besoin
French, noun/bə.zwɛ̃/
besoin is a French masculine noun meaning “need” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Privation de quelque chose qui est nécessaire”.
What does besoin mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculineneed
- 2
masculinewant (state of being in need)
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Privation de quelque chose qui est nécessaire. 2. Indigence ; dénuement. 3. Manque de nourriture. 4. Mouvement instinctif, du sentiment qui porte à rechercher ou à faire quelque chose.
adjective: 1. Nécessaire.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of besoin
- besoins plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce besoin?
- /bə.zwɛ̃/
- \bə.zwɛ̃\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to besoin
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is besoin in French?
besoin appears 324 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).