behead
/bɪˈhɛd/verb
behead is spelled B-E-H-E-A-D: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,154th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, behead means “To deliberately remove the head of; to cut off (someone's) head” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in behead?
| Letters | 6: B-E-H-E-A-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 41,154th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is behead?
Behead appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,154th 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 behead?
- /bɪˈhɛd/
- /bəˈhɛd/
Behead has 2 syllables (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-behead.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of behead
- beheads present, singular, he/she/it
- beheading participle, present
- beheaded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does behead mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To deliberately remove the head of; to cut off (someone's) head.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Behead in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to remove the head:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | décapiter |
| German | enthaupten, köpfen |
| Portuguese | decapitar, degolar |
| Spanish | descabezar |
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 behead come from?
From Middle English beheden, bihefden, biheveden, from Old English behēafdian (“to behead”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihaubudōn, *bihaubidōn (“to behead”), equivalent to be- (“off, away”) + head. Cognate with Middle High German behoubeten (“to behead”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).