beside

UK/bɪˈsaɪd/US/bɪˈsaɪd/

prepositionA2Very common — you will meet it every day · #1,854 of 15,258neutral

Beside means right next to somebody or something. Close enough to touch.

It is a preposition and never an adverb, so something is beside the bed but not simply beside. Take care with besides, which has an s and means in addition or apart from, and swapping the two is a very common error. There is an idiom worth knowing, since being beside yourself means being overwhelmed by emotion, usually rage or grief. Beside the point means irrelevant.

Definitions of beside

1prepositionbesideNext to or at the side of something.A2
“He put the glass down beside the lamp.”

Phrases it lives in

beside yourself — overwhelmed by a strong emotion
beside the point — not relevant to the matter being discussed

Where it comes from

Beside is simply by the side. Old English bī sīdan was two words that grew together, and besides took the same road while keeping its s.

Old English
be sīdan
Middle English
beside
English, today
beside

Built from

bī sīdan · Old English — by the side (of), on the side (of)

From Middle English beside, besiden, bisyde (also besides > besides), from Old English be sīdan, bī sīdan (“by the side (of), on the side (of)”). Compare stq biesiede (“aside”), German Low German bisied (“aside”), German beiseite (“aside, to one side”). Compare also Dutch terzijde (“aside”). by surface analysis, en + be + side.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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