n.
Pronunciation: ' b ā -t ə , chiefly Brit ' b ē -
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English betha, from Latin beta, from Greek b ē ta, of Semitic origin; akin to Hebrew b ē th beth
Date: 14th century
1 : the 2d letter of the Greek alphabet ― see ALPHABET table
2 : BETA PARTICLE
3 : a measure of the risk potential of a stock or an investment portfolio expressed as a ratio of the stock's or portfolio's volatility to the volatility of the market as a whole
4 : a nearly complete prototype of a product (as software) <released in beta > <the beta version>