betray
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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6 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "betray", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "betray" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "betray" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
betray is aEnglishverb. It means: To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly. Pronounced /bɪˈtɹeɪ/. Often confused with bray and betty.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | betray |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /bɪˈtɹeɪ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #16,645 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 12 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for betray is 6 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bɪˈtɹeɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,645 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for betray, with forms such as "bbetray", "bertay", and "betary". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "bray", "betty", "Betsy", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English betrayen, bitrayen (“to commit an act of treason against”), equivalent to be- + tray (“to betray”). further etymology information Middle English bi- is from Old English be- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is betray, spelled B-E-T-R-A-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly.
- 2To prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive.
- 3To violate the confidence of, by disclosing a secret, or that which one is bound in honor not to make known.
- 4To disclose (a secret, etc.) in deliberate violation of someone’s confidence.
- 5To disclose or indicate, for example something which prudence would conceal; to reveal unintentionally.
- 6To mislead; to expose to inconvenience not foreseen; to lead into error or sin.
- 7To lead astray; to seduce (as under promise of marriage) and then abandon.
Etymology
From Middle English betrayen, bitrayen (“to commit an act of treason against”), equivalent to be- + tray (“to betray”). further etymology information Middle English bi- is from Old English be- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi (“near, by”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at, near”). Compare also traitor, treason, tradition. The modern sense “to disclose, discover, reveal unintentionally” is due to influence from or merger with English bewray (“to reveal, divulge”), which is similar in sound and meaning. The similarity with German betrügen, Dutch bedriegen, from Proto-West Germanic *bidreugan (“to betray, deceive”), is coincidental.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbetray,bertay,betary,betrayy,betrray,betrya,bettray,bteray,ebtray
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for betray
Misspelling Variants of "betray"
Frequency rank: #16,645 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index: