Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

beard

/bɪɹd/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.07 in modern English

Syllables
beard
IPA
/bɪɹd/
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Facial hair on the chin, cheeks, jaw and neck.

noun

The cluster of small feathers at the base of the beak in some birds.

noun

The appendages to the jaw in some cetaceans, and to the mouth or jaws of some fishes.

noun

The byssus of certain shellfish.

noun

The gills of some bivalves, such as the oyster.

noun

The hairs of the labial palpi of moths and butterflies.

noun

The long or stiff hairs on a plant; the awn.

noun

Long, hairlike feathers that protrude from the chest of a turkey.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰers-? Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰéh₂der. Proto-Germanic *bardaz Proto-West Germanic *bard Old English beard Middle English berd English beard PIE word *bʰardʰéh₂ From Middle English berd, bard, bærd, from Old English beard, from Proto-West Germanic *bard, from Proto-Germanic *bardaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰeh₂, *bʰh₂erdʰeh₂. Cognates Cognate with Scots beird (“beard”), Yola bearde (“beard”), North Frisian biard (“beard”), Saterland Frisian Boart (“beard”), West Frisian burd (“beard”), Bavarian Bårt (“beard”), Dutch baard (“beard”), German Bart (“beard”), German Low German and Luxembourgish Baart (“beard”), Vilamovian biöt (“beard”), Yiddish באָרד (bord, “beard”), Icelandic barð (“brim; edge, ridge”), Norwegian Bokmål bart (“moustache”), Norwegian Nynorsk bard, barde (“edge, rim”), bart (“moustache”), Crimean Gothic bars (“beard”); also Latin barba (“beard”), Latvian bārda (“beard”), Lithuanian barzda (“beard”), Belarusian барада́ (baradá, “beard”), Bulgarian and Macedonian брада́ (bradá, “beard; chin”), Czech, Slovak, and Slovene brada (“beard”), Russian and Ukrainian борода́ (borodá, “beard”), Serbo-Croatian бра́да, bráda (“beard”). Doublet of barb.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: berd, beard, *bard, *bardaz, *bʰardʰeh₂

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /bɪɹd/
  • British English: /bɪəd/

Usage

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

Phrases

Frequently Paired Words

Synonyms

Homonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce beard?
The recorded pronunciation is /bɪɹd/.
What does beard mean?
Facial hair on the chin, cheeks, jaw and neck.
Where does beard come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce beard

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “beard”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/bɪɹd/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “beard”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “beard” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.