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

Some food manufacturers use concentrated forms of natural pigments found in fruits and plants -- such as beets, blackberries, paprika, saffron, tamarind and turmeric -- as dyes. —Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 23 Apr. 2025

What Happens Next The FDA has urged manufacturers affected by the ban to shift toward using natural coloring agents such as beet, watermelon or carrot juice. —Ross Rosenfeld, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 Apr. 2025

Root crops don’t transplant well, so directly seed carrots, beets, radishes, parsnips, etc. —Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Apr. 2025

Pectin is extracted from fruit and vegetables—mainly citrus fruits, apples, beets, and sweet potatoes. —Lana Barhum, Verywell Health, 24 Mar. 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