What does besot mean?
"Besot" is a transitive verb meaning to make someone foolish, and in its dominant modern sense, to infatuate — to fill a person with such intense love or admiration that judgment is impaired. It is most commonly encountered as the adjective-like past participle "besotted", as in "a besotted suitor" or "she was besotted with her newborn niece". The word derives from the older noun "sot", meaning a fool or habitual drunkard, combined with the intensifying prefix "be-", so its literal history is vivid: to besot someone is, etymologically speaking, to make a fool of them through passion. First recorded in the early seventeenth century — Shakespeare uses it in A Midsummer Night's Dream — the word retains a literary flavor today. Its connotations are affectionate but gently mocking, suggesting dazed devotion rather than deep, considered love, which makes it ideal for describing crushes, new parents, and starry-eyed admirers.
verbTo make someone foolish or stupid; especially, to infatuate or make someone so enamored that their judgment is clouded.
- To infatuate; to fill with foolish or excessive love or admiration.
- To make stupid, foolish, or dull-witted.
"He was so besotted with her charm that he overlooked every warning sign."
"The young prince was utterly besotted with the ambassador's daughter."
"Years of flattery had besotted the old tyrant into believing he could do no wrong."
Shakespeare used it first — and when you're besotted, love literally makes you a fool, at least according to the word's own history.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of besot
"Besot" was formed in English in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century from the noun "sot" (a fool or drunkard) plus the prefix "be-", giving it the literal sense "to make a sot of". The noun "sot" itself came from Old French "sot", meaning foolish or a fool, a word of uncertain deeper origin. Shakespeare employed the verb in A Midsummer Night's Dream around 1596, helping fix it in literary English, and the derivative "besotted" became the standard way to describe infatuation.
Related word forms
How besot is actually used
Almost always used in the past participle form 'besotted', typically in the construction 'besotted with/by'. The active forms ('he besots', 'they besotted him') are rare. The word carries a slightly literary or formal register and often implies that infatuation has impaired judgment.
Easily confused with besot
Besought is the past tense of 'beseech' (to plead urgently), whereas besot means to make foolish or infatuated.
A sot is a habitual drunkard — the noun root from which 'besot' was formed by adding the prefix 'be-'.