beastie

American  

[bee-stee] / ˈbi sti /

noun

1. Chiefly Literary. a small animal, especially one toward which affection is felt.

2. Facetious. an insect; bug.

3. Canadian Slang (chiefly Alberta). construction worker.

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beastie British  

/ ˈbiːstɪ /

noun

1. a small animal

2. informal an insect

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Etymology

Origin of beastie

First recorded in 1775–85; beast + -ie

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Explanation

A beastie is a small animal, especially a cute, wild one like a chipmunk, or a beloved, domesticated one like a pet. Someone might even refer to an insect, such as a ladybug or a cricket, as a beastie. As you might've guessed, beastie comes from beast, another word for "animal." The -ie added to the end is a diminutive suffix — it's used to indicate something or someone small, cute, or dear. You see it at the end of kiddie, for example. It often has the form -y, as in froggy for a little frog, and it's often attached to a person's name, as in Jeanie or Billy. There it expresses affection even if the person is not small — or cute.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beastie

"He was a well known beastie in the streets of the West End of Edinburgh," he added.

From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2025

That movie's entire marketing campaign oriented around the Statue of Liberty's decimation by the beastie Clover.

From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2024

But the director, Rob Savage, is so stingy with detail — What does the beastie want?

From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2023

In 1998, she found it did, in fact, slow, by about one-hundredth of 1 second—proof that Duncan and Thompson’s theoretical beastie existed in the wild.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 8, 2021

"He says he saw the beastie, the snake-thing, and will it come back tonight?"

From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

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Related Words

• animal
• creature
• wild animal

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