high-beam

noun

"high-beam" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“high-beam” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The setting of an automobile's headlights adjusted to brighten a longer distance in front of the car, than when on the normal (low-beam) setting.

Corpus desk

Index EN-high-beam · high-beam · English

high-beam · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "H" 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.

Key facts for high-beam
PropertyValue
Headwordhigh-beam
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “high-beam” in English

high-beamsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

high-beam is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for high-beam, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is high-beam, spelled H-I-G-H---B-E-A-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    The setting of an automobile's headlights adjusted to brighten a longer distance in front of the car, than when on the normal (low-beam) setting.
  2. 2
    An erect nipple.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how high-beam appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Turn off your high-beams - you're blinding the oncoming traffic.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "high-beam"?
"high-beam" is spelled H-I-G-H---B-E-A-M.
What does "high-beam" mean?
As a noun, "high-beam" means: The setting of an automobile's headlights adjusted to brighten a longer distance in front of the car, than when on the normal (low-beam) setting.
What language does "high-beam" come from?
"high-beam" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list