How to pronounce beat
Say it like BEET. Beat is a single syllable, so the whole word carries the stress.
Click the play button next to American or British to hear how to pronounce beat. Choose Slow to hear each sound clearly.
- BEET
- Main stress
- Lighter stress
- Unstressed
Beat pronunciation, sound by sound
Read the parts left to right, then blend them together without pausing.
- BEETSay this part loudest and longest. The vowel is the "ee" in see.
American vs British pronunciation of beat
American and British speakers say beat in essentially the same way: /bit/ in the US and /biːt/ in the UK.
British respelling: BEET.
What does beat mean?
- come out better in a competition, race, or conflict“Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship”“We beat the competition”
- give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression“Thugs beat him up when he walked down the street late at night”“The teacher used to beat the students”
- hit repeatedly“beat on the door”“beat the table with his shoe”
- a regular route for a sentry or policeman“in the old days a policeman walked a beat and knew all his people by name”
- the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart“he could feel the beat of her heart”
- the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music“the piece has a fast rhythm”“the conductor set the beat”
- very tired“was all in at the end of the day”“so beat I could flop down and go to sleep anywhere”
Where does beat come from?
Cognate with Dutch boten, botten, butten (“to push, strike”), German boßen (“to thrash”), Gothic *𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍄𐌰𐌽 (*bautan, “to beat, strike”) (whence, probably, Galician and Portuguese botar (“to expel; to throw”)); also Latin fūstis (“club, cudgel
Similar and opposite words
Similar meaning
Words that rhyme with beat
Practicing rhymes is a quick way to lock in the vowel sound of beat.
Words that sound like beat
Questions about saying beat
How do you pronounce beat?
Say BEET. The American pronunciation is /bit/. In British English it is /biːt/. Press play above to hear it at normal speed or slowly.
How many syllables are in beat?
Beat is a single syllable, so the whole word carries the stress. Broken into parts: BEET.
Do Americans and Brits say beat the same way?
Almost exactly. The American form is /bit/ and the British form is /biːt/, so you can use either pronunciation with any listener.
What words sound the same as beat?
Beat sounds the same as beet in American English. The spelling and meaning are what tell them apart.