beak
/biːk/noun, verb
beak is spelled B-E-A-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,589th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, beak means “A rigid structure projecting from the front of a bird's face, used for pecking, grooming, foraging, carrying items, eating food, etc” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of beak is beaks.
How many letters and syllables are in beak?
| Letters | 4: B-E-A-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.0 times per million words; the 19,589th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is beak?
Beak appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,589th 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 beak?
- UK /biːk/
Beak has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-beak.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with beak
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: beck.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with beak?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as beak from its last stressed vowel (/ik/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: bake, beka.
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 beak
- beaks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- beaking participle, present
- beaked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does beak mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A rigid structure projecting from the front of a bird's face, used for pecking, grooming, foraging, carrying items, eating food, etc.
- 2
A similar pointed structure forming the nose and mouth of various animals, such as turtles, platypuses, whales, etc.
- 3
The long projecting sucking mouth of some insects and other invertebrates, as in the Hemiptera.
- 4
The upper or projecting part of the shell, near the hinge of a bivalve.
- 5
The prolongation of certain univalve shells containing the canal.
- 6
Any process somewhat like the beak of a bird, terminating the fruit or other parts of a plant.
- 7
Anything projecting or ending in a point like a beak, such as a promontory of land.
- 8
A continuous slight projection ending in an arris or narrow fillet; that part of a drip from which the water is thrown off.
- 9
UKslangA justice of the peace; a magistrate.
- 10
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 younger smatterers are pushing up behind you. Crawl into a bo
verb
- 1
To strike with the beak.
- 2
To seize with the beak.
- 3
To play truant.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Beak in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 beak come from?
From Middle English bec, borrowed from Anglo-Norman bec, Old French bec, from Latin beccus, from Gaulish *bekkos, from Proto-Celtic *bekkos (“beak, snout”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“pointed stick, peg”). Cognate with Breton beg (“beak”). Compare Saterland Frisian Bäk (“mouth; muzzle; beak”); Dutch bek (“beak; bill; neb”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).