To cover or smear with sin or moral corruption; to make sinful or wicked.
From the prefix 'be-' (meaning to make or become) combined with 'sin' (a transgression). This archaic formation follows Middle English patterns of creating verbs by prefixing 'be-' to nouns or adjectives, reflecting Old English verbal derivation practices.
The prefix 'be-' is a linguistic workhorse in English—it transforms nouns into verbs that mean 'to make' or 'to cover with.' Words like 'befriend,' 'besmirch,' and 'besin' all follow this ancient pattern that dates back to Old English and shows how speakers have always creatively built new verbs.
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