beet

noun

ˈbēt 

: a biennial garden plant (Beta vulgaris) of the amaranth family that includes several cultivars (such as Swiss chard and sugar beet) and that has thick edible leaves with long petioles and often swollen purplish-red roots

also : its root used especially as a vegetable, as a source of sugar, or for forage

Examples of beet in a Sentence

I've planted carrots, parsnips, and beets in the garden.

Recent Examples on the Web

Your carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, and rutabagas will be fine through a light frost, and may keep growing if the weather warms. —Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 23 Oct. 2025

The use of beets to refine for sugar started in Germany in the 1790s. —Kurt Snibbe, Oc Register, 21 Oct. 2025

In addition to carrots, beets, turnips, and parsnips, light freezes prime hardier radishes and rutabagas for sweetening. —Anthony Reardon, Kansas City Star, 18 Oct. 2025

Octopus with fennel and citrus ($22); Heirloom Tomato Salad with melon and burrata ($19); Gnocchi with beets, corn, charred broccolini and tomatoes ($32); and Caviar Cones with gochujang steak tartare ($15). —Linda Zavoral, Mercury News, 15 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English bete, from Old English bēte, from Latin beta

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing beet

• beet armyworm
• beet leafhopper
• beet red
• red as a beet
• sugar beet

Rhymes for beet

• beat
• bleat
• cheat
• cleat
• creat
• deet
• eat
• feat
• feet
• fleet
• greet
• heat

Kids Definition

beet

noun

ˈbēt 

: a garden plant with thick long-stalked edible leaves and usually an enlarged purplish red root used as a vegetable, as a source of sugar, or as food for livestock

also : this root