betoken
/bɪˈtoʊ.kən/
"betoken" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“betoken” 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 signify by some visible object; show by signs or tokens.
Corpus desk
Index EN-betoken · betoken · English
betoken · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 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 | betoken |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /bɪˈtoʊ.kən/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “betoken” in English
Rare enough to double-check
betoken is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /bɪˈtoʊ.kən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
betoken has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English bitoknen, bitacnen, from Old English betācnian (“to betoken, signify, designate”), from Proto-West Germanic *bitaiknijan. Equivalent to be- + token. Cognate with Dutch betekenen (“to mean, signify”), German bezeichnen (“to call, designat… The correct English form is betoken, spelled B-E-T-O-K-E-N.
Definition
- 1To signify by some visible object; show by signs or tokens.
- 2To foreshow by present signs; indicate something future by that which is seen or known.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how betoken appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
There be other 2 signes in often use of which the first is made thus + and betokeneth more : the other is thus made – and betokeneth lesse.
During the fight, we ran forward a few paces, but a heavy, rushing flight betokened an easy victory, and the stranger flew away.
Etymology
From Middle English bitoknen, bitacnen, from Old English betācnian (“to betoken, signify, designate”), from Proto-West Germanic *bitaiknijan. Equivalent to be- + token. Cognate with Dutch betekenen (“to mean, signify”), German bezeichnen (“to call, designate”), Swedish beteckna (“to represent, designate, indicate”) and Danish betegne (“to represent, designate, indicate”).
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.