beheading
/bɪˈhɛˌdɪŋ/noun, verb
beheading is spelled B-E-H-E-A-D-I-N-G: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,789th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, beheading means “An instance of a person being beheaded” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of beheading is beheadings.
How many letters and syllables are in beheading?
| Letters | 9: B-E-H-E-A-D-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 30,789th 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 beheading?
Beheading appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,789th 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 beheading?
- /bɪˈhɛˌdɪŋ/
- /bəˈhɛˌdɪŋ/
Beheading has 3 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-beheading.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of beheading
- beheadings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does beheading mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An instance of a person being beheaded.
A large crowd gathered to see the beheading.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of behead
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Beheading in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense an instance of beheading:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | décapitation |
| German | Enthauptung |
| Portuguese | decapitação |
| Spanish | decapitación, degüello, descabezamiento |
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 beheading come from?
From behead + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).