# beer

> English word · Noun · IPA /bɪə/ [bɪː] · frequency rank #2,029

## Definitions
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.
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.
5. A variety of the above beverages.

## Etymology
From Middle English 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”). Samuel Johnson in his famous 18th-century A Dictionary of the English Language guessed it was from (unattested) Welsh *bîr; he distinguished it in his time from ale — the ancient usual word — by beer being older-aged and/or smaller.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bjoor (“beer”), West Frisian bier (“beer”), Dutch bier (“beer”), German Low German Beer (“beer”), German Bier (“beer”), dialectal Swedish bjor, bör (“beer”), Norwegian Nynorsk bjor (“beer”), Faroese bjór (“beer”), Icelandic bjór (“beer”).

## Easily confused with
- **br** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-br)
- **bet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-bet)
- **ben** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-ben)
- **bye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-bye)
- **beg** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-beg)
- **bel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-bel)
- **bey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-bey)
- **bor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-bor)
- **bev** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-bev)
- **Boe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-boe)
- **bes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-bes)
- **ber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-ber)
- **bur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-bur)
- **Bir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-bir)
- **BLE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-ble)
- **best** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-best)
- **bell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-bell)
- **belt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-belt)
- **beta** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-beta)
- **bend** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-bend)

## Common misspellings (4)
`bbeer`, `beerr`, `bere`, `eber`

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