beak

American  

[beek] / bik /

noun

• beaks
  plural

1. the bill of a bird; neb.

2. any similar horny mouthpart in other animals, as the turtle or duckbill.

3. anything beaklike or ending in a point, as the spout of a pitcher.

4. Slang. a person's nose.

5. Entomology. proboscis.

6. Botany. a narrowed or prolonged tip.

7. Nautical. (formerly) a metal or metal-sheathed projection from the bow of a warship, used to ram enemy vessels; ram; rostrum.

8. Typography. a serif on the arm of a character, as of a K.

9. Also called bird's beak.  Architecture. a pendant molding forming a drip, as on the soffit of a cornice.

10. Chiefly British Slang.

    1. a judge; magistrate.

    2. a schoolmaster.

---

beak ¹ British  

/ biːk /

noun

1. the projecting jaws of a bird, covered with a horny sheath; bill

2. any beaklike mouthpart in other animals, such as turtles

3. slang a person's nose, esp one that is large, pointed, or hooked

4. any projecting part, such as the pouring lip of a bucket

5. architect the upper surface of a cornice, which slopes out to throw off water

6. chem the part of a still or retort through which vapour passes to the condenser

7. nautical another word for ram

---

beak ² British  

/ biːk /

noun

1. a Brit slang word for judge magistrate headmaster schoolmaster

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• underbeak
  noun
• beaked
  adjective
• beakless
  adjective
• beaklike
  adjective
• beaky
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• beaks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of beak

1175–1225; Middle English bec < Old French < Latin beccus < Gaulish

Explanation

When you see a bird pecking around in your backyard, it’s using its beak to probe the ground for food. A beak is the hard, pointed structure sticking out from a bird’s face. The word beak refers to the bill on a bird, which protrudes from the face and is used for eating, grooming, and pecking. You can think of it sort of like the mouth of a bird, only it’s made up of hard, horny material rather than flesh. The word beak is sometimes used informally to refer to a person’s nose, especially if the nose is large, prominent, and protruding — in other word, sort of like a bird’s beak.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beak beaks

The volunteer had barely put down the tomato when a small beak poked out from a bush and dashed towards it in an abandoned garden in fire-ravaged southwest France.

From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026

The streamlined beak of the kingfisher, which enters the water almost without a splash, became the model for the nose of Japan’s bullet train.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

And as for the showstopping pelican, the frog erupts out of its beak right on cue, a moment that indeed inspires a round of laughter and childlike awe.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026

Standing about 25 inches tall, it likely had a toothless beak, large eye sockets, and hollow bones.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 23, 2026

Hoggishly he stuffed far more of the nuts into his beak than it could cope with.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

Atlantic puffins are the harlequins of the sea, colorful as a rainforest parrot—black backs, white bellies, quad-colored beaks and intensely orange feet and legs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Kalshi has explicit written rules against people trading on events whose outcomes they could influence and recently fined and suspended some congressional candidates for trying to wet their beaks in their own races.

From Slate ● Apr. 24, 2026

As their diets diversified, their beaks evolved to match the ecological roles they occupied.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 11, 2026

Terror birds were top predators - they could be taller than a human and had powerful legs and hooked, flesh-ripping beaks.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2025

He unclipped the orb from the metal bird beaks and held it up in his palm.

From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat

Related Words

• snout