# bead

> English word · Noun · IPA /biːd/ · frequency rank #16,178

## Definitions
1. Prayer, later especially with a rosary.
2. Each in a string of small balls making up the rosary or paternoster.
3. A small, round object.
4. A small, round object.
5. A small, round object.
6. A small, round object.
7. A small, round object.
8. A small, round object.
9. A ridge, band, or molding.
10. A ridge, band, or molding.
11. A glassy drop of molten flux, as borax or microcosmic salt, used as a solvent and color test for several mineral earths and oxides, as of iron, manganese, etc., before the blowpipe.

## Etymology
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.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gebäd (“prayer”), Cimbrian gapéet (“prayer”), Dutch gebed and bede (“prayer”), German Gebet (“prayer”), Low German Gebett (“prayer”), Luxembourgish Gebiet (“prayer”), Vilamovian gybāt (“prayer”).

## Easily confused with
- **bed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bed)
- **bet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bet)
- **ben** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-ben)
- **BID** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bid)
- **bee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bee)
- **bud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bud)
- **beg** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-beg)
- **bra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bra)
- **bel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bel)
- **bey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bey)
- **boa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-boa)
- **bpd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bpd)
- **bod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bod)
- **bla** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bla)
- **BSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bsa)
- **bev** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bev)
- **BPA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bpa)
- **bes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bes)
- **BFA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-bfa)
- **ber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bead-vs-ber)

## Common misspellings (5)
`baed`, `bbead`, `beadd`, `beda`, `ebad`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bead