Beatles
English
The Beatles
Etymology
Originally spelled Beatals, punningly referencing the expression beat all (“surpass everything”), then later altered to Beatles, blend of beat + beetles, with beat referring to "beat music" or the "beat" of a drum, and beetles inspired by the contemporaneous band name The Crickets.[1][2]
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbiːtl̩z/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈbiːtl̩z/, [ˈbiːɾɫ̩z]
- Homophone: beetles
Audio (US) (file)
Proper noun
the Beatles pl (plural only)
- An extremely successful and influential British rock music quartet that operated primarily in the 1960s.
- Synonym: Fab Four
- 2023, Priscilla Presley, Sandra Harmon, Sofia Coppola, Priscilla, spoken by Elvis (Jacob Elordi):
- Don't tell me to play goddamn Beatles in my house. We're in America, I swear to God.
Derived terms
- Beatle
- Beatle boot
- Beatle cut
- Beatledom
- Beatlehead
- Beatle-ish
- Beatle-less
- Beatlelike
- Beatlemania
- Beatlemaniac
- Beatleness
- Beatles-like
- Beatlesque
- Beatley
- big as the Beatles
- pre-Beatles
- the Fifth Beatle
Translations
rock music quartet
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References
- Greg Metzer, Rock Band Name Origins (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co.) 2008.
- Kenneth Womack, The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four (Santa Barbara: Greenwood) 2017.
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bi.tœls/, /bi.tœlz/
Audio (file)
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈbi.tows/ [ˈbi.toʊ̯s]
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /ˈbi.towʃ/ [ˈbi.toʊ̯ʃ]
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈbi.tɐls/ [ˈbi.tɐɫs]
Spanish
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