Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

root beer

/ˈɹut ˌbɪɹ/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.23 in modern English

Syllables: root beer
IPA: /ˈɹut ˌbɪɹ/

10

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

1

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A beverage, most often a carbonated soft drink made from a combination of vanilla, cherry tree bark, licorice root, sarsaparilla root, sassafras root bark, nutmeg, anise, and molasses, among other things.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

A dark reddish-brown color, similar to the drink.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"In 1919, when Roy Allen and Frank Wright started selling their new root beer beverage to a thirsty America, national Prohibition was taking its grip on the country. Their timing couldn't have been better. No longer able to legally drink real beer, thirsty patriots had to settle for this sweet, foamy concoction derived from roots, herbs, and berries."
"I just keep staring at all the ink we have, that wild variety of color, everything from rootbeer, midnight blue and cochineal to mauve, light doe, lilac, south sea green, maize, even pelican black, all line up in these plastic caps[…]"
"[…]most of our bucks have antlers that are varying degrees of brown, from a deep rich root beer shade to walnut to even light amber."

Etymology

The term is attested since before the lifetime of Charles Elmer Hires, but he is widely credited with popularizing it much further than it had previously been; his proprietary beverage was inspired by an earlier root tea, and he planned to sell it under that name, but he changed its name to broaden the sales appeal. For more, see Wikipedia at root beer § History.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈɹut ˌbɪɹ/
British English: /ˈɹuːt ˌbɪə/

Usage

Inflected Forms

root beers (plural) rootbeer (alternative)

Frequently Paired Words

birch beer ginger beer root tea sarsaparilla

Rhymes With

here year we're near clear hear career fear wear appear dear beer

Questions

How do you pronounce root beer?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈɹut ˌbɪɹ/.
What does root beer mean?: A beverage, most often a carbonated soft drink made from a combination of vanilla, cherry tree bark, licorice root, sarsaparilla root, sassafras root bark, nutmeg, anise, and molasses, among other things.
Where does root beer come from?: The term is attested since before the lifetime of Charles Elmer Hires, but he is widely credited with popularizing it much further than it had previously been; his proprietary beverage was inspired by an earlier root tea, and he planned to sell it under that name, but he changed its name to broaden the sales appeal. For more, see Wikipedia at root beer § History.

How to pronounce root beer

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “root beer”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈɹut ˌbɪɹ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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