English
beat
Beat comes from Middle English beten, from Old English bēatan ‘to beat, strike’, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną ‘to push, strike’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bautaną‘to push’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bautan‘to beat’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150bēatan‘to beat’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500beten‘to hit or whip’
- Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611beat
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bautaną‘to push’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bautan‘to beat’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150bēatan‘to beat’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500beten‘to hit or whip’
- Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611beat
Earliest quotation: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “to still my beating mind”.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-
big, bold, bug, beam, bile, paddock, footer, poutine, beal, 6 more
through Proto-Germanic *bautaną ‘to push, strike’
through Proto-West Germanic *bautan ‘to beat’
through Middle English beten ‘to hit or whip’
Another origin of beat
- Old Englishc. 450–1150bēot‘promise, vow, boast’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bet
- Englishtodaybeat
Middle English bet would regularly yield *beet; the modern form is influenced by the present stem and the past participle beaten, perhaps by analogy with the Early Modern English paradigm eat:eat (‘ate’):eaten. Pronunciations with /ɛ/ (from Middle English bette, alternative simple past of beten) are possibly analogous to read (/ɹɛd/), led, met, etc.
Today it means
noun A stroke; a blow.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *bautaną / beat