betray
/bɪˈtɹeɪ/verb
betray is spelled B-E-T-R-A-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, betray means “To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in betray?
| Letters | 6: B-E-T-R-A-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.6 times per million words; the 16,687th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is betray?
Betray appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce betray?
- /bɪˈtɹeɪ/
- /bəˈtɹeɪ/
Betray has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-betray.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with betray?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as betray.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: baryte.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of betray
- betrays present, singular, he/she/it
- betraying participle, present
- betrayed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does betray mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly.
An officer betrayed the city.
- 2
To prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive.
to betray a person or a cause
- 3
To violate the confidence of, by disclosing a secret, or that which one is bound in honor not to make known.
- 4
To disclose (a secret, etc.) in deliberate violation of someone’s confidence.
- 5
To disclose or indicate, for example something which prudence would conceal; to reveal unintentionally.
Though he had lived in England for many years, a faint accent betrayed his Swedish origin.
- 6
To mislead; to expose to inconvenience not foreseen; to lead into error or sin.
- 7
To lead astray; to seduce (as under promise of marriage) and then abandon.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Betray in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | trahir, livrer |
| German | verraten , im Stich lassen , von etwas zeugen |
| Portuguese | trair , revelar |
| Spanish | traicionar, entregar, vender , delatar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does betray come from?
From Middle English betrayen, bitrayen (“to commit an act of treason against”), equivalent to be- + tray (“to betray”). 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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).