# belt

> English word · Noun · IPA /bɛlt/ · frequency rank #3,471

## Definitions
1. A band worn around the waist to hold clothing to one's body (usually pants), hold weapons (such as a gun or sword), or serve as a decorative piece of clothing.
2. A band used as a restraint for safety purposes, such as a seat belt.
3. A band that is used in a machine to help transfer motion or power.
4. Anything that resembles a belt, or that encircles or crosses like a belt; a strip or stripe.
5. A trophy in the shape of a belt, generally awarded for martial arts.
6. A collection of small bodies (such as asteroids) which orbit a star.
7. One of certain girdles or zones on the surface of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, supposed to be of the nature of clouds.
8. A band of armor along the sides of a warship, protecting the ship's vital spaces.
9. A powerful blow, often made with a fist or heavy object.
10. A quick drink of liquor.
11. A geographical region known for a particular product, feature or demographic (Corn Belt, Bible Belt, Black Belt, Green Belt).
12. The part of the strike zone at the height of the batter's waist.
13. A device that holds and feeds cartridges into a belt-fed weapon.
14. A vocal tone produced by singing with chest voice above the break (or passaggio), in a range typically sung in head voice.
15. A mostly-continuous, often curvilinear structure expressed on the surface or in the subsurface of a terrestrial planet or other solid planemo, such as a mountain belt, a fold and thrust belt, or an ore belt.

## Etymology
From Middle English belt, from Old English belt (“belt, girdle”), from Proto-West Germanic *baltī̆, from Proto-Germanic *baltijaz (“girdle, belt”), from Latin balteus (“belt, sword-belt”), of Etruscan origin. Cognate with Scots belt (“belt”), Dutch belt, German Balz (“belt”), Danish bælte (“belt”), Swedish bälte (“belt, cincture, girdle, zone”) and Icelandic belti (“belt”).

## Easily confused with
- **Bt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bt)
- **BL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bl)
- **but** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-but)
- **bit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bit)
- **bet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bet)
- **ben** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-ben)
- **bot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bot)
- **BLM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-blm)
- **bey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bey)
- **bla** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bla)
- **bev** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bev)
- **bol** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bol)
- **bes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bes)
- **ber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-ber)
- **BLS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bls)
- **BMT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bmt)
- **BLE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-ble)
- **bly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bly)
- **best** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-best)
- **bill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-bill)

## Common misspellings (6)
`bbelt`, `bellt`, `beltt`, `betl`, `blet`, `eblt`

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