bead
/ˈbiːd/noun, verb
bead is spelled B-E-A-D: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bead means “Each in a string of small balls making up the rosary or paternoster” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bead is beads.
How many letters and syllables are in bead?
| Letters | 4: B-E-A-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 2.8 times per million words; the 16,228th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is bead?
Bead appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce bead?
- /ˈbiːd/
- [ˈbɪi̯d]
Bead has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bead.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with bead?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as bead.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: abed.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of bead
- beads plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- beading participle, present
- beaded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bead mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
archaicPrayer, later especially with a rosary.
- 2
Each in a string of small balls making up the rosary or paternoster.
Holonym: prayer beads
- 3
A small, round object with a hole to allow it to be threaded on a cord or wire, particularly for decorative purposes.
- 4
Various small, round solid objects.
- 5
A small drop of water or other liquid.
beads of sweat
- 6
A bubble, in spirits.
- 7
A small, round ball at the end of a barrel of a gun used for aiming.
She drew a bead on the target and fired.
- 8
Knowledge sufficient to direct one's activities to a purpose.
We now have a bead on the main technical issues for the project
verb
- 1
To form into a bead.
The raindrops beaded on the car's waxed finish.
- 2
To apply beads to.
She spent the morning beading the gown.
- 3
To form into a bead.
He beaded some solder for the ends of the wire.
- 4
To cause beads to form on (something).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bead in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | grain , perle , gouttelette |
| Portuguese | conta , missanga , gota |
| Spanish | cuenta, agallón, mullo , abalorio |
| German | Perle , Tropfen , Korn |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does bead come from?
From Middle English bede (“a prayer”), also “a bead for counting prayers” in a peire of bedes (literally “a pair of beads”), from Old English bedu, bed, ġebed (“a request, entreaty, prayer”), from Proto-West Germanic *bedu, *bed, *gabed, from Proto-Germanic *bedō, *bedą.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).