# beat

> English word · Noun · IPA /biːt/ · frequency rank #1,042

## Definitions
1. A stroke; a blow.
2. A pulsation or throb.
3. A pulse on the beat level, the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit. Thus a beat is the basic time unit of a piece.
4. A rhythm.
5. A rhythm.
6. The instrumental portion of a piece of hip-hop music.
7. The interference between two tones of almost equal frequency
8. A short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect.
9. An area of a person's responsibility, especially
10. An area of a person's responsibility, especially
11. An act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival; a scoop.
12. That which beats, or surpasses, another or others.
13. A precinct.
14. A place of habitual or frequent resort.
15. A place of habitual or frequent resort.
16. A low cheat or swindler.
17. The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.
18. A smart tap on the adversary's blade.
19. A makeup look; compare beat one's face.

## Etymology
From Middle English beten, from Old English bēatan (“to beat, pound, strike, lash, dash, thrust, hurt, injure”), from Proto-West Germanic *bautan, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to push, strike”).
Cognates
Cognate with Dutch boten, botten, butten (“to push, strike”), German boßen (“to thrash”), Gothic *𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍄𐌰𐌽 (*bautan, “to beat, strike”) (whence, probably, Galician and Portuguese botar (“to expel; to throw”)); also Latin fūstis (“club, cudgel, knobbed stick, staff”), *fūtō (“to strike”), Albanian bahe, hobe (“sling”), Armenian բութ (butʻ), բույթ (buytʻ, “thumb”).

## Easily confused with
- **Bt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bt)
- **but** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-but)
- **bit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bit)
- **bed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bed)
- **bet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bet)
- **ben** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-ben)
- **bee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bee)
- **beg** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-beg)
- **bra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bra)
- **bot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bot)
- **bel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bel)
- **bey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bey)
- **boa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-boa)
- **bla** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bla)
- **BSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bsa)
- **bev** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bev)
- **BPA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bpa)
- **bes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bes)
- **BFA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-bfa)
- **ber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-ber)

## Common misspellings (4)
`baet`, `bbeat`, `beatt`, `ebat`

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