Join free

betamax

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

Betamax¹

Where it comes from

According to Sony, the name had a double meaning: beta is the Japanese word used to describe the way in which signals are recorded on the tape; and the shape of the Greek letter beta β resembles the course of the tape through the transport. The suffix -max, from maximum, was added to suggest greatness.

proper noun

  1. A home videocassette recording format developed by Sony in 1975, now known for having lost the format war to VHS.

    Similar: Beta

verb Betamaxes · Betamaxing · Betamaxed

  1. informal, transitive To make (something) obsolete. If you don’t want to get Betamaxed, or stuck with a dated technology, it might be a good idea to purchase the latest, fastest computer available.

betamax²

Where it comes from

Genericized trademark from Betamax. The food is named from their resemblance to the cuboidal videocassettes.

noun betamaxes

  1. a Betamax (videocassette tape)
  2. Philippines, informal coagulated chicken blood that is boiled, cut in to cubes, skewered and grilled to be sold as a street food

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"betamax." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/betamax. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

betamax. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/betamax

Chicago

"betamax." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/betamax.

BibTeX
@misc{betamax_2026,
  title = {betamax},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/betamax},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}