Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Behead |
BeheadVerb1. Cut the head of; "the French King was beheaded during the Revolution". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "behead" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1532. (references) |
Note: Behead \Be*head"\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Beheaded; present participle verb or noun Beheading.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Bible | Behead a method of taking away life practised among the Egyptians (Gen. 40:17-19). There are instances of this mode of punishment also among the Hebrews (2 Sam. 4:8; 20:21,22; 2 Kings 10:6-8). It is also mentioned in the New Testament (Matt. 14:8-12; Acts 12:2). Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonym: BeheadSynonym: decapitate (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Killing | Behead, bowstring, electrocute, gas. (execute). |
Punishment | Execute; bring to the block, bring to the gallows; behead, decapitate, guillotine; decollate; hang, turn off, gibbet, bowstring, hang draw and quarter; shoot; decimate; burn; break on the wheel, crucify; empale, impale; flay; lynch; electrocute; gas, send to the gas chamber. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Behead |
| English words defined with "behead": Decollate ♦ Unhead. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "behead": SHRIMP-PEELING-MACHINE OPERATOR. (references) |
| "Behead" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Behead" is used about 10 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 10 | 111,207 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
behead | 33 |
behead chief great head hew it like not seemly thief wound | 22 |
behead guillotine woman | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "behead"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | i pres kokën (decapitate, decollate, head). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | قطع الرأس (decapitate, decapitation, decollate), قطع رأسه, ضرب عنقه. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | обезглавявам (decapitate, decollate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 断头 (Beheaded, Beheading), 斬首 , 斬 (chop). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | stít (decapitate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | onthoofden (decapitate, decapitation, decollation, derotomy), het hoofd afslaan (decapitate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | senkapigi (decapitate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | hálshøgga (decapitate), avhøvda (decapitate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | گردن زدن (Decapitate, Decollate), سربریدن (Decollate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | mestata (guillotine). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | décapiter. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | enthaupten (decapitate), köpfen (crack, decapitate, head, head in, poll, tipping, to decapitate, topping). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | καρατομώ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | לערוף ראש (decapitate, guillotine), לכרות ראש. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | lenyakaz (decapitate, decollate, guillotine, neck, to decapitate, to guillotine), lefejez (decapitate, obtruncate, to behead, to decapitate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | memenggal kepala (decapitate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | decapitare (decapitate, decollate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 首'切る (to behead, to fire from a job), 斬る (to behead, to murder). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | くび'きる (to behead, to fire from a job), きる (to be through, to behead, to break off, to carve, to chop, to clip, to complete, to cross, to cut, to cut down, to disconnect, to discount, to fell, to finish, to hang up, to hash, to murder, to pause, to punch, to put on, to saw, to sell below cost, to sever, to shakeoff, to shear, to slice, to strip, to turn off, to wear). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 참수하십시". (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | jee-chionaghey (decapitate, decapitation), giarrey y kione jeh (decapitate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | eheadbay degolar (decapitate, decollate, jugulate, sticking, to stick), decapitar (decapitate, decollate, jugulate, obtrusion), cortar a cabeça. (various references) decapita (decapitate, decollate). (various references) отрубать голову (decapitate). (various references) odseći glavu (decapitate). (various references) decapitar (decapitate). (various references) halshugga (decapitate, decollate). (various references) ประหารโ"ยการตั"คอ. (various references) boynunu vurmak, kellesini uçurmak, kafasını kesmek. (various references) стратити, видтягти голову, обезголовити. (various references) torri pen, torfynyglu (break neck of, decapitate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | carnificem, carnifico, decollatorum, decollatum, decollavi, decollavit. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "behead": beheaded, beheading, beheadings, beheads. (additional references) | |
| |
"Behead" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Bahide, bahjee, bahreah, bayhead, Behera, Behra, Behzad, Bhead, B'head, bihead, bohea, bumhead, ehead. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "behead" (pronounced buhe"d) |
| 4 | -u h e" d | ahead. |
| 3 | -h e" d | head, overhead. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-d-e-e-h" | |
-2 letters: abed, bade, bead, hade, haed, head, hebe, heed. | |
-3 letters: bad, bah, bed, bee, dab, dah, deb, dee, edh, had, hae. | |
-4 letters: ab, ad, ae, ah, ba, be, de, ed, eh, ha, he. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-d-e-e-h" | |
+1 letter: beached, behaved, beheads. | |
+2 letters: barehead, beheaded, berdache, beshamed, bethesda, bleached, bluehead, bonehead, breached, breathed, deathbed, rehabbed, shedable. | |
+3 letters: beachhead, beachside, bechalked, bechanced, becharmed, beheading, berdaches, bethanked, bethesdas, bigheaded, blathered, blueheads, boneheads, chambered, deathbeds, debauched, debauchee, debaucher, debauches, hebetated, hebraized, shewbread. | |
+4 letters: alphabeted, baldheaded, barehanded, bareheaded, barrelhead, beachheads, bedchamber, beforehand, beheadings, bellyached, bequeathed, beshadowed, bighearted, blasphemed, boneheaded, bridgehead, broadsheet, bubblehead, bufflehead, bullheaded, debauchees, debauchers, debauchery, deshabille, detachable, featherbed, handleable, hibernated, inbreathed, misbehaved, rebranched, rhabdomere, shewbreads, threadbare, timberhead, unbleached, whitebeard. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)42 65 68 65 61 64 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-... . .... . .- -.. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000010 01100101 01101000 01100101 01100001 01100100 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)B e h e a d |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0042 0065 0068 0065 0061 0064 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)367174716770 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Images: Slideshow | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Expressions: Internet 7. Translations: Modern 8. Translations: Ancient | 9. Derivations 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Orthography | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
