Word: beta Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Semitic *bayt- Phoenician 𐤁𐤕 (bt)bor. Ancient Greek βῆτᾰ (bêtă)bor. English beta Borrowed from Ancient Greek βῆτᾰ (bêtă). Doublet of beth. Pronunciation: /ˈbiːtə/, /ˈbeɪtə/, [ˈbeɪɾə], /ˈbiʈɑ/, /ˈbeʈɑ/ 1. The second letter of the Greek alphabet (Β, β), preceded by alpha (Α, α) and followed by gamma, (Γ, γ). In modern Greek it represents the voiced labiodental fricative sound of v found in the English words have and vase. Labels: countable, uncountable 2. An academic grade better than a gamma and worse than an alpha. Labels: countable, rare, uncountable Example: But let me tell you happy extroverts that only Vera Telfer and H. A. C. Evans got even an alpha minus; only T. E. Hendrie got a beta plus […] Example: Mr Taylor would hardly give a beta minus to one of his history students […] 3. Average sensitivity of a security's price to overall securities market prices. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: An inspection of the results indicate that Property Trusts is the lowest risk industry with a long-run beta of 0.4520 while Gold is the highest risk industry with a long-run beta of 1.5229. 4. The phase of development after alpha testing and before launch, in which software, while not complete, has been released to potential users for testing. Labels: uncountable Example: The company is offering a public beta program to test the software. 5. Software in such a phase; a preliminary version. Labels: countable Example: He quickly deduced our goal—ship a quality beta—but he also quickly discerned that we had no idea about the quality of the product because of our pile of untriaged bugs. Example: We will assume you got the .tgz version—later 2.x series versions such as 2.5.2 or 2.6.0 should be okay, provided they are production releases (not alphas, betas, or release candidates). 6. Any kind of content from early development that was not used in the final product. Labels: proscribed, uncountable Example: beta levels; beta characters; beta items in a video game 7. Information about a route which may aid someone in climbing it. Labels: countable, uncountable 8. A beta particle or beta ray. Labels: countable, uncountable 9. Sideslip angle. Labels: countable, uncountable 10. The range of engine power settings in which the blade pitch angle of a constant-speed propeller is controlled directly by the angle of the engine's throttle lever (rather than varying with engine torque and airspeed to maintain a constant propeller RPM), allowing the propeller to be disked to generate high drag and slow the aircraft quickly. Labels: countable, uncountable 11. Alternative spelling of betta (“fish in the genus Betta”). Labels: alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable 12. Ellipsis of beta male, a man who is less competent or desirable than an alpha male. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, slang, uncountable Example: “I guess in your psychological language of alpha males and beta males, I would be firmly in the camp that prefers the more laid-back betas,” she took a deep breath, “like your father.” Example: “They want sexy, virile alpha males, yes? But that doesn't come with sensitive and loyal and all of that. That's a beta. A frickin' collie, Lola. […] 13. In omegaverse fiction, a person of a secondary sex similar to normal humans, lacking the biological drives of alphas and omegas but generally capable of bonding and mating with either. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: Many A/B/O stories posit societies where biological imperatives divide people based on wolf pack hierarchies into sexual dominants (alphas), sexual submissives (omegas), and everyone else (betas). Example: In ASD, the beta also functions as a contrast, as Yuri is assumed to be a beta before his first heat reveals his omega status.