meed
/miːd/noun, verb
meed is spelled M-E-E-D: 4 letters. It appears about once in every 12 million words in written English, the 102,771st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, meed means “A gift; bribe” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of meed is meeds.
How many letters and syllables are in meed?
| Letters | 4: M-E-E-D |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 12 million words; the 102,771st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 meed?
Meed appears about once in every 12 million words in written English, the 102,771st 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 meed?
- US /miːd/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-meed.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with meed
Sounds like: mead (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with meed?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as meed from its last stressed vowel (/id/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: deem, deme.
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 meed
- meeds plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- meeding participle, present
- meeded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does meed mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
archaicA payment or recompense made for services rendered or in recognition of some achievement; reward; award.
- 2
A gift; bribe.
- 3
datedMerit; worth.
In any case, his life would be in ignominy and would be brief, and he would have lost irretrievably the meed of valour.
verb
- 1
To reward; bribe.
- 2
To deserve; merit.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does meed come from?
From Middle English meede, mede, from Old English mēd, meord, meard, meorþ (“meed, reward, pay, price, compensation, bribe”), from Proto-West Germanic *miʀdu, from Proto-Germanic *mizdō (“meed”), from Proto-Indo-European *misdʰéh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).