bereave
/bɪˈɹiːv/
"bereave" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bereave” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To deprive by or as if by violence; to rob; to strip.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bereave · bereave · English
bereave · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bereave |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /bɪˈɹiːv/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “bereave” in English
Rare enough to double-check
bereave is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /bɪˈɹiːv/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
bereave has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English bireven, from Old English berēafian (“to bereave, deprive of, take away, seize, rob, despoil”), from Proto-Germanic *biraubōną, and Old English berēofan (“to bereave, deprive, rob of”); both equivalent to be- + reave. Cognate w… The correct English form is bereave, spelled B-E-R-E-A-V-E.
Definition
- 1To deprive by or as if by violence; to rob; to strip.
- 2To take away by destroying, impairing, or spoiling; take away by violence.
- 3To deprive of power; prevent.
- 4To take away someone or something that is important or close; deprive.
- 5To destroy life; cut off.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bereave appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Madam, you have bereft me of all words,
bereft of him who taught me how to sing
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English bireven, from Old English berēafian (“to bereave, deprive of, take away, seize, rob, despoil”), from Proto-Germanic *biraubōną, and Old English berēofan (“to bereave, deprive, rob of”); both equivalent to be- + reave. Cognate with Dutch beroven (“to rob, deprive, bereave”), German berauben (“to deprive, rob, bereave”), Danish berøve (“to deprive of”), Norwegian berøve (“to deprive”), Swedish beröva (“to rob”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌱𐍉𐌽 (biraubōn).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.