# beset

> English word · Verb · IPA /bɪˈsɛt/ · frequency rank #26,013

## Definitions
1. Senses relating to surrounding.
2. Senses relating to surrounding.
3. Senses relating to surrounding.
4. Senses relating to surrounding.
5. Senses relating to surrounding.
6. Senses relating to surrounding.
7. Senses relating to surrounding.
8. Senses relating to surrounding.
9. Senses relating to placing or setting.
10. Senses relating to placing or setting.
11. Senses relating to placing or setting.
12. Senses relating to placing or setting.
13. Senses relating to being appropriate.
14. Senses relating to being appropriate.

## Etymology
From Middle English besetten, bisetten (“to besiege, blockade; to fill, occupy; to harass, beset; to allot, bestow; to arrange, manage; to place, set; to provide for; to treat in a certain way”), from Old English besettan, bisettan (“to surround, beset; to set near; etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *bisattjan, from Proto-Germanic *bisatjaną (“to fill, occupy”), from *bi- (prefix meaning ‘at; by’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at; near; on”)) + *satjaną (“to place down, set”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”)). By surface analysis, be- (prefix meaning ‘around; by, close to, near, next to’) + set.
cognates
* Danish besætte (“to occupy; obsess”)
* Dutch bezetten (“to sit in; occupy; fill”)
* German besetzen (“to seize; occupy; garrison”)
* German Low German besetten (“to occupy”)
* Saterland Frisian besätte (“to occupy”)
* Swedish besätta (“to fill; occupy; beset”)
* West Frisian besette (“to occupy”)

## Easily confused with
- **bet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beset-vs-bet)
- **best** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beset-vs-best)
- **bust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beset-vs-bust)
- **Bose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beset-vs-bose)
- **Bess** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beset-vs-bess)
- **bezel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beset-vs-bezel)
- **Brest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beset-vs-brest)
- **bevel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beset-vs-bevel)
- **bests** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beset-vs-bests)
- **bidet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beset-vs-bidet)
- **bested** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beset-vs-bested)
- **bee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bee-vs-beset)
- **bes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bes-vs-beset)
- **been** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/been-vs-beset)
- **base** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/base-vs-beset)
- **beat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beat-vs-beset)
- **beer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beer-vs-beset)
- **belt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belt-vs-beset)
- **beef** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beef-vs-beset)
- **bent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bent-vs-beset)

## Common misspellings (7)
`bbeset`, `beest`, `besett`, `besset`, `beste`, `bseet`, `ebset`

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