abet
/əˈbɛt/
"abet" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“abet” is an uncommon English word, ranked #58,486 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #58,486
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To incite; to assist or encourage by aid or countenance in crime.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | abet |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /əˈbɛt/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #58,486 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “abet” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for abet is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈbɛt/. Corpus data places it at rank #58,486 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for abet, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English abetten, abette, from Old French abeter (“to entice”), from a- (“to”) + beter (“hound on, urge, to bait”), either from Middle Dutch bētan (“incite”) or from Old Norse beita (“to cause to bite, bait, incite”), from Proto-Germanic *baitija… The correct English form is abet, spelled A-B-E-T.
Definition
- 1To incite; to assist or encourage by aid or countenance in crime.
- 2To support, countenance, maintain, uphold, or aid (any good cause, opinion, or action).
- 3To urge on, stimulate (a person to do) something desirable.
- 4To back up one's forecast of a doubtful issue, by staking money, etc., to bet.
Etymology
From Middle English abetten, abette, from Old French abeter (“to entice”), from a- (“to”) + beter (“hound on, urge, to bait”), either from Middle Dutch bētan (“incite”) or from Old Norse beita (“to cause to bite, bait, incite”), from Proto-Germanic *baitijaną (“to cause to bite”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”). Cognate with Icelandic beita (“to set dogs on; to feed”). Alternate etymology traces the Middle English and Old French words through Old English *ābǣtan (“to hound on”), from ā- + bǣtan (“to bait”), from the same source (Proto-Germanic *baitijaną). See also bait, bet.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “abet”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-B-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈbɛt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.