Beak or beek?
beak is a noun meaning “A rigid structure projecting from the front of a bird's face, used for pecking…”; beek is a verb meaning “To expose to a source of heat for warmth and pleasure”. Use beak as a noun and beek as a verb (beek is also a noun: “Clipping of beekeeper”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) beak is about 7.8 times as common as beek.
What is the difference between beak and beek?
| beak | beek | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | verb, noun |
| Meaning | A rigid structure projecting from the front of a bird's face, used for pecking, grooming, foraging, carrying items, eating food, etc A similar pointed structure forming the nose and mouth of various animals, such as turtles, platypuses, whales, etc To strike with the beak | To expose to a source of heat for warmth and pleasure To season by exposure to heat, usually used of wood |
| Example | It’s easy enough to be a beak when you’re young and athletic, and can offer the latest University smattering. The difficulty is to keep… | none recorded |
| Forms | beaks | beeks, beeking, beeked |
| Pronunciation | /biːk/ | not recorded |
| In writing | 2.0 times per million words | about once in every 4 million words |
Sources: beak and beek in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of beak and beek
beak
- 1
A rigid structure projecting from the front of a bird's face, used for pecking, grooming, foraging, carrying items, eating food, etc
- 2
To strike with the beak
- 3
UKslangA justice of the peace; a magistrate
- 4
A similar pointed structure forming the nose and mouth of various animals, such as turtles, platypuses, whales, etc
- 5
To seize with the beak
- 6
slangA schoolmaster (originally, at Eton)
It’s easy enough to be a beak when you’re young and athletic, and can offer the latest University smattering. The difficulty is to keep your place when you get old and stiff, and…
- 7
The long projecting sucking mouth of some insects and other invertebrates, as in the Hemiptera
- 8
To play truant
beek
- 1
To expose to a source of heat for warmth and pleasure
- 2
informalClipping of beekeeper
- 3
To season by exposure to heat, usually used of wood
- 4
To enjoy exposure to warmth; bask
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, beak or beek?
beak appears 2.0 times per million words; beek about once in every 4 million words.
beak 2.0 times per million wordsbeek about once in every 4 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).