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Colloquial French béguin (bonnet). The verb s’embéguiner ‘to wear a bonnet’ came to mean ‘to have a crush on someone’. The word itself came from béguine ‘beguine’ (lay nuns who typically wore such bonnets).



béguin (plural béguins)

  1. An infatuation or fancy.
    • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 51
      Then he said: 'But what does Ata say to it?' 'It appears that she has a beguin for you,' I said. 'She's willing if you are. Shall I call her?'
    • 1972, ‘I see now. And you have a béguin for her too? It is no use, I warn you.’ (O'Brian, Post-Captain)



French Wikipedia has an article on:

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béguin m (plural béguins)

  1. (informal) crush (a short-lived and unrequited love or infatuation)
    J'ai le béguin pour elle.
    I've got a crush on her.
  2. (informal) crush (person with which one is infatuated)
    C'est mon béguin.
    She's my crush.
  3. A hairstyle once popular with religious women

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