beta
English edit
← alpha |
→ gamma | |
Wikipedia article on beta |
Etymology edit
From Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta). Doublet of beth.
Pronunciation edit
- (UK) enPR: bēʹtə, IPA(key): /ˈbiːtə/
- (US) enPR: bāʹtə, IPA(key): /ˈbeɪtə/
- (Philippine) enPR: bĕʹtə, IPA(key): /ˈbɛtə/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -iːtə, -eɪtə, (Philippines) -ɛtə
- (UK) Homophone: beater (non-rhotic accents)
- (US) Homophone: baiter (non-rhotic accents)
Noun edit
beta (countable and uncountable, plural betas)
- The second letter of the Greek alphabet (Β, β), preceded by alpha (Α, α) and followed by gamma, (Γ, γ). In modern Greek it represents the voiced labiodental fricative sound of v found in the English words have and vase.
- (education, rare) An academic grade better than a gamma and worse than an alpha.
- 1957, R. Avery, “This Week’s Competition”, in Time & Tide[1], volume 38, number 1, page 184:
- But let me tell you happy extroverts that only Vera Telfer and H. A. C. Evans got even an alpha minus; only T. E. Hendrie got a beta plus […]
- 1964, Randolph Churchill, The Fight for the Tory Leadership: A Contemporary Chronicle[2], page 49:
- Mr Taylor would hardly give a beta minus to one of his history students […]
- 1979, Angus MacVicar, Silver in My Sporran: Confessions of a Writing Man[3], page 76:
- The English class was for me delightful. My essays, still written under the influence of Kubla Khan, nearly always got a beta plus.
- (finance) Average sensitivity of a security's price to overall securities market prices.
- 2001, Cheng-Few Lee, editor, Advances in Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management, volume 8, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 143:
- An inspection of the results indicate that Property Trusts is the lowest risk industry with a long-run beta of 0.4520 while Gold is the highest risk industry with a long-run beta of 1.5229.
- (computing, video games)
- (uncountable) The phase of development after alpha testing and before launch, in which software, while not complete, has been released to potential users for testing.
- The company is offering a public beta program to test the software.
- (countable) Software in such a phase; a preliminary version.
- 2007, Michael Lopp, Managing Humans, page 107:
- He quickly deduced our goal—ship a quality beta—but he also quickly discerned that we had no idea about the quality of the product because of our pile of untriaged bugs.
- 2007, Mark Summerfield, Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt: The Definitive Guide to PyQt Programming[4], Pearson Education, →ISBN:
- We will assume you got the
.tgz
version—later 2.x series versions such as 2.5.2 or 2.6.0 should be okay, provided they are production releases (not alphas, betas, or release candidates).
- 2015 February 14, Steven Strom, “Evolve Review: Middle of the food chain”, in Ars Technica[5]:
- Before Evolve had even seen its first beta, the game's publisher dipped its toe into presenting it as an eSport.
- (proscribed, uncountable) Any kind of content from early development that was not used in the final product.
- beta levels, beta characters, beta items in a video game
- (uncountable) The phase of development after alpha testing and before launch, in which software, while not complete, has been released to potential users for testing.
- (climbing) Information about a route which may aid someone in climbing it.
- (physics) A beta particle or beta ray.
- (aviation) Sideslip angle.
- (aviation) The range of engine power settings in which the blade pitch angle of a constant-speed propeller is controlled directly by the angle of the engine's throttle lever (rather than varying with engine torque and airspeed to maintain a constant propeller RPM), allowing the propeller to be disked to generate high drag and slow the aircraft quickly.
- Alternative spelling of betta (“fish in the genus Betta”)
- (slang, manosphere, masculism) Ellipsis of beta male, a man who is less competent or desirable than an alpha male.
- 2010, Terry Spear, Wolf Fever, Sourcebooks Casablanca, published 2010, →ISBN, page 24:
- She'd always had a thing for alpha males. Not that she had any intention of being bossed around, even if one had her best interests at heart. Her fascination with alphas was that they were a challenge. Betas didn't hold much of an appeal.
- 2015, Stephen Jarosek, Tyrants of Matriarchy:
- When they ride the cock carousel in preference to the responsible betas that they find so boring, well, we guess that they pay.
- 2018, Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die[7]:
- News of Harper-Mercer's murder spree, which killed ten, prompted speculation on neoreactionary forums that the long-awaited “beta uprising” of virginal shut-ins had begun. Not quite. But in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, a large audience of Americans finally saw the real beta uprising in the violent Nazi rally that shut the city down
- (fandom slang) In omegaverse fiction, a person of a secondary sex similar to normal humans, lacking the biological drives of alphas and omegas but generally capable of bonding and mating with either.
- 2013, Kristina Busse, “Pon Farr, Mpreg, Bonds, and the Rise of the Omegaverse”, in Anne Jamison, editor, Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World, page 317:
- Many A/B/O stories posit societies where biological imperatives divide people based on wolf pack hierarchies into sexual dominants (alphas), sexual submissives (omegas), and everyone else (betas).
- 2017, Marianne Gunderson, "What is an omega? Rewriting sex and gender in omegaverse fanfiction", thesis submitted to the University of Oslo, page 99:
- In ASD, the beta also functions as a contrast, as Yuri is assumed to be a beta before his first heat reveals his omega status.
- 2018, Laura Campillo Arnaiz, “When the Omega Empath Met the Alpha Doctor: An Analysis of Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics in the Hannibal Fandom”, in Ashton Spacey, editor, The Darker Side of Slash Fan Fiction, page 119:
- Betas are usually second in command to the reigning alpha, and omegas belong to the lowest caste of the social hierarchy.
Hyponyms edit
(unfinished software):
Coordinate terms edit
Derived terms edit
- alpha-beta filter
- alpha-beta pruning
- amyloid-beta
- amyloid beta
- beta-antithrombin
- beta-beam
- beta blockade
- beta city
- beta-compactification
- beta distribution
- beta error
- beta female
- beta fish
- beta function
- beta iron
- beta-lactamase
- beta-lactamic
- beta-lipoprotein
- beta male
- beta movement
- beta-naphthol
- beta orbiter
- beta-pleated sheet
- beta quartz
- beta reduce
- beta reduction
- beta-sitosterol
- beta test, beta-test
- beta tester
- beta testing
- betatron
- betavoltaic
- betavoltaics
- machete beta
- metallo-beta-lactamase
- New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1
- region-beta paradox
Translations edit
|
Adjective edit
beta (not comparable)
- Identifying a molecular position in an organic chemical compound.
- Designates the second in an order of precedence.
- (computing) Preliminary; prerelease. Refers to an incomplete version of a product released for initial testing.
- (of a person, object or action) Associated with the beta male/female archetype.
Derived terms edit
- beta amino acid, beta-amino acid
- beta barrel, beta-barrel
- beta blocker, beta-blocker
- Betacam
- beta carbon nitride
- beta-carotene, beta carotene
- beta cell
- beta coefficient
- beta decay
- beta emitter
- beta form 1-3
- beta globin
- beta globulin
- beta-glucan
- beta-glucosidase
- beta helix
- beta lactam, beta-lactam
- betalike
- Betamax
- beta oxidation, beta-oxidation
- beta particle, β-particle
- beta-peptide
- beta radiation
- beta ray, β-ray
- beta reader
- beta receptor
- beta sheet
- beta strand
- beta version
- beta wave
Translations edit
|
Verb edit
beta (third-person singular simple present betas, present participle betaing, simple past and past participle betaed)
- (computing) To preliminarily release computer software for initial testing prior to final release.
- (chiefly Internet) To beta-read a text.
- 1999, sqira a., in alt.tv.x-files.creative [8]
- My thanks to Heather; who read it and betaed it. Thank you.
- 2000, Elizabeth Durack, quoted in Angelina I. Karpovich, “The Audience as Editor: The Role of Beta Readers in Online Fan Fiction Communities” (essay), in Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse (editors), Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet, McFarland (2006), →ISBN, page 180,
- Beta’ing is time-consuming, so asking a lot of people to give you a detailed analysis isn’t the most polite thing to do.
- 2002, Jane Davitt, in alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer.creative [9]
- The next part is written and beta'd (thanks, Jen!), ready to go but <shuffles feet> I haven't even started what should be the final part yet.
- 2002, Karmen Ghia, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated [10]
- I had the honor of betaing this story and as I was doing the first read through I had the odd, but lovely, experience when a story suspends the reader in its own rhythm and flow, its own reality.
- 1999, sqira a., in alt.tv.x-files.creative [8]
Anagrams edit
Ambonese Malay edit
Etymology edit
From Classical Malay بيتا (beta, “I”).
Pronoun edit
beta
- I first-person singular pronoun
Alternative forms edit
References edit
- D. Takaria, C. Pieter (1998) Kamus Bahasa Melayu Ambon-Indonesia[11], Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa
Asturian edit
Etymology edit
From Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta).
Noun edit
beta f (plural betes)
- beta (Greek letter)
Catalan edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
Borrowed from Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta).
Noun edit
beta f (plural betes)
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
beta f (plural betes)
Further reading edit
- “beta” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
Czech edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta).
Noun edit
beta n or f
- beta (Greek letter)
Declension edit
when feminine:
Indeclinable when neuter.
Faroese edit
Etymology edit
From Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta), ultimately from Proto-Semitic *bayt- (“house”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
beta n (genitive singular beta, plural betu)
- beta (Greek letter)
Declension edit
Declension of beta | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
n1 | singular | plural | ||
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
nominative | beta | betað | betu, betur | betuni |
accusative | beta | betað | betu, betur | betuni |
dative | beta | betanum | betum | betunum |
genitive | beta | betans | betna | betnanna |
Derived terms edit
Galician edit
Etymology edit
From Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta).
Noun edit
beta m (plural betas)
- beta (Greek letter)
Icelandic edit
Noun edit
beta n (genitive singular beta, no plural)
- beta (Greek letter)
Declension edit
Indonesian edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
Inherited from Malay beta, probably from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ita (“we”).
Noun edit
beta
Usage notes edit
The pronoun is obsolete in common use and limited in literature and Moluccas dialect.
Etymology 2 edit
From Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta).
Noun edit
beta (first-person possessive betaku, second-person possessive betamu, third-person possessive betanya)
- beta (second letter of the Greek alphabet)
Etymology 3 edit
Noun edit
beta (first-person possessive betaku, second-person possessive betamu, third-person possessive betanya)
- male groom sarong
Etymology 4 edit
Noun edit
beta
- abbreviation of benda terbang aneh (“unidentified flying object”).
Further reading edit
- “beta” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.
Italian edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Latin bēta, from Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta).
Noun edit
beta f (invariable)
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Etymology 2 edit
From Latin bēta (“beet”), from Celtic.
Noun edit
beta f (plural bete)
Anagrams edit
Jamaican Creole edit
Adjective edit
beta
- comparative degree of gud: better
- 2012, Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published 2012, →ISBN, Matyu 11:15:
- Enibadi we av iez — beta lisn gud!
- Anybody who has ears – better listen good!
Japanese edit
Romanization edit
beta
Latin edit
Etymology 1 edit
Said by some sources to be of Celtic origin,[1][2] but no obvious Celtic cognates exist. Also compared are blitum (“spinach”), meta (“conic heap of stones”) (compared to the root's spindle form), and less likely, sense 2, with the seed vessel resembling the letter.
Noun edit
bēta f (genitive bētae); first declension
- A beet.
Declension edit
First-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | bēta | bētae |
Genitive | bētae | bētārum |
Dative | bētae | bētīs |
Accusative | bētam | bētās |
Ablative | bētā | bētīs |
Vocative | bēta | bētae |
Descendants edit
- Catalan: bleda (partially), bleda-rave
- French: bette, betterave, blette (partially)
- Irish: biatas
- Italian: bieta (partially), bietola
- Norman: betterave
- Sicilian: jiti (Southern East of Sicily) (it is probably pluralia tantum but preceded by definite article "a")
- → Proto-West Germanic: *bētā (see there for further descendants)
Etymology 2 edit
From Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta).
Noun edit
bēta n (indeclinable)
- The Greek letter beta.
References edit
- “beta”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “beta”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- beta in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
- Berti-Pichat (1866)
- Baxter (1837)
- Poiret (1827)
- von Lippmann (1925)
- Geschwind & Sellier (1902)
- Pabst (1887)
- Becker-Dillengen (1928)
- Biancardi, Panella & Lewellen (2011): Beta maritima: The Origin of Beets
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “beet”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Malay edit
Etymology edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation edit
- (Johor-Selangor) IPA(key): /betə/
- (Riau-Lingga) IPA(key): /beta/
- Rhymes: -etə, -tə, -ə
Pronoun edit
beta (Jawi spelling بيتا)
See also edit
Noun edit
beta (Jawi spelling بيتا, plural beta-beta, informal 1st possessive betaku, 2nd possessive betamu, 3rd possessive betanya)
- beta (second letter of the Greek alphabet)
Old Irish edit
Alternative forms edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
beta
- third-person plural present subjunctive relative of is
- c. 845, St Gall Glosses on Priscian, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1975, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, pp. 49–224, Sg. 207b11
- Cit comṡuidigthi la Grécu ní écen dúnni beta comṡuidigthi linn.
- Although they are compounds in Greek (lit. “with the Greeks”), it is not necessary for us that they be compounds in our language (lit. “with us”).
- c. 845, St Gall Glosses on Priscian, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1975, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, pp. 49–224, Sg. 207b11
Polish edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
Borrowed from Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta), from Phoenician 𐤁 (b /bēt/).
Noun edit
beta f
- beta (Greek letter Β, β)
Declension edit
Derived terms edit
Etymology 2 edit
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Noun edit
beta m inan
Further reading edit
Portuguese edit
Pronunciation edit
- Hyphenation: be‧ta
Etymology 1 edit
Borrowed from Latin beta, from Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta).
Noun edit
beta f (plural betas)
- beta (all senses)
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
beta f (plural betas)
- beet (plant)
Etymology 3 edit
Verb edit
beta
- inflection of betar:
Romanian edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
beta m (plural beta)
- beta (Greek letter)
Declension edit
Serbo-Croatian edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
bȅta f (Cyrillic spelling бе̏та)
Declension edit
Slovak edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
beta f (genitive singular bety, nominative plural bety, genitive plural biet, declension pattern of žena) OR
beta n
- beta (Greek letter)
Usage notes edit
- When used in the neuter gender, the word is not declined.
Declension edit
References edit
- “beta”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024
Spanish edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta) ultimately from Proto-Semitic *bayt- (“house”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
beta f (plural betas)
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- “beta”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Swedish edit
Etymology 1 edit
Latin bēta, from Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta).
Noun edit
beta n or c
Declension edit
Declension of beta Greek letter | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | beta | betat | beta | betan |
Genitive | betas | betats | betas | betans |
Declension of beta | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | beta | betan | betor | betorna |
Genitive | betas | betans | betors | betornas |
Verb edit
beta (present betar, preterite betade, supine betat, imperative beta)
- to test software prior to release
Conjugation edit
Active | Passive | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | beta | betas | ||
Supine | betat | betats | ||
Imperative | beta | — | ||
Imper. plural1 | beten | — | ||
Present | Past | Present | Past | |
Indicative | betar | betade | betas | betades |
Ind. plural1 | beta | betade | betas | betades |
Subjunctive2 | bete | betade | betes | betades |
Participles | ||||
Present participle | betande | |||
Past participle | betad | |||
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs. |
Etymology 2 edit
Ultimately from Latin bēta (“beet”).
Noun edit
beta c
Declension edit
Declension of beta | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | beta | betan | betor | betorna |
Genitive | betas | betans | betors | betornas |
Etymology 3 edit
Verb edit
beta (present betar, preterite betade, supine betat, imperative beta)
- to graze; to eat grass; to feed on growing herbage.
Conjugation edit
Active | Passive | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | beta | betas | ||
Supine | betat | betats | ||
Imperative | beta | — | ||
Imper. plural1 | beten | — | ||
Present | Past | Present | Past | |
Indicative | betar | betade | betas | betades |
Ind. plural1 | beta | betade | betas | betades |
Subjunctive2 | bete | betade | betes | betades |
Participles | ||||
Present participle | betande | |||
Past participle | betad | |||
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs. |
See also edit
Etymology 4 edit
Clipping of betaga; be- + ta. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
beta (present betar, preterite betog, supine betagit, imperative beta)
- to steal
Conjugation edit
Active | Passive | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | beta | betas | ||
Supine | betagit | betagits | ||
Imperative | beta | — | ||
Imper. plural1 | betan | — | ||
Present | Past | Present | Past | |
Indicative | betar | betog | betas | betogs |
Ind. plural1 | beta | betogo | betas | betogos |
Subjunctive2 | beta | betoge | betas | betoges |
Participles | ||||
Present participle | betagande | |||
Past participle | betagen | |||
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs. |
Active | Passive | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | betaga | betagas | ||
Supine | betagit | betagits | ||
Imperative | betag | — | ||
Imper. plural1 | betagen | — | ||
Present | Past | Present | Past | |
Indicative | betager | betog | betages | betogs |
Ind. plural1 | betaga | betogo | betagas | betogos |
Subjunctive2 | betage | betoge | betages | betoges |
Participles | ||||
Present participle | betagande | |||
Past participle | betagen | |||
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs. |