Bere

determiner BEH-re beːr

Also spelled bare, beare

Nothing but, only, or pure — and, by extension, a whole lot of. 'Bere lie' is nothing but lies, sheer falsehood, while 'bere people' is a great many people. Like its cousin 'bare', it either strips a thing down to a single quality or piles it up in abundance, and context tells which is meant. A common intensifier, it stresses that something is exclusively one thing or present in large amount, and it runs through everyday emphatic speech, whether damning ('bere foolishness') or marvelling at plenty.

  • Him a talk bere foolishness.

    He's talking nothing but nonsense.

  • Bere people did deh a di funeral.

    A whole lot of people were at the funeral.

  • Wi have bere work fi do.

    We have loads of work to do.

From English 'bare' (mere, only), broadened in Jamaican to also stress large quantity. Shared with British multicultural slang, where 'bare' likewise means 'a lot'.

Close to 'bagga' (plenty), but 'bere' leans on the 'nothing but / only' sense as much as on quantity. Context decides the emphasis.