beer
/ˈbɪə̯/noun, verb
beer is spelled B-E-E-R: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 50 times per million words in written English, the 2,041st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, beer means “An alcoholic drink fermented from starch material, commonly barley malt; often with hops or some other substance (like gruit) to impart a bitter…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of beer is beers.
How many letters and syllables are in beer?
| Letters | 4: B-E-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 50 times per million words; the 2,041st 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; 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 beer?
Beer appears 50 times per million words in written English, the 2,041st 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 beer?
- UK /ˈbɪə̯/
- British /ˈbɪː/
- British /ˈbɪjə/
As a noun (“One who is or exists”): /ˈbi.ɚ/, /ˈbiː.ə/.
Beer has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-beer.ogg, En-au-beer.ogg, En-us-beer.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with beer
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: be-er (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with beer?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as beer from its last stressed vowel (/iəɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: bree, bere, reeb.
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 beer
- beers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- beering participle, present
- beered participle, past
- be-er
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does beer mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An alcoholic drink fermented from starch material, commonly barley malt; often with hops or some other substance (like gruit) to impart a bitter flavor.
Beer is brewed all over the world.
- 2
A fermented extract of the roots and other parts of various plants, as spruce, ginger, sassafras, etc.
- 3
A solution produced by steeping plant materials in water or another fluid.
- 4
A glass, bottle, or can of any of the above beverages.
I bought a few beers from the shop for the party.
- 5
A variety of the above beverages.
Pilsner is one of the most commonly served beers in Europe.
- 6
nonstandardOne who is or exists.
verb
- 1
informalTo give beer to (someone).
No doubt he then can feed us, wine us, beer us, And cook us something that can warm and cheer us.
- 2
informalTo drink beer.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Beer in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bière , demi |
| German | Bier, bia |
| Portuguese | cerveja |
| Spanish | cerveza, birra, birria, sersia, servatina, servantina |
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 beer come from?
From Middle English ber, bere, from Old English bēor (“beer”) (Oxford OED notes: "rare, except in poetry"), from Proto-West Germanic *beuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *beuzą (“beer”) (putatively from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewsóm), meaning “brewer's yeast”. However, also see the "beer" entry on EtymOnline (q.v.), which links a connection to monastic Vulgar Latin *biber (“a drink, beverage”), from Latin bibere (“to drink”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).