Beep (sound)

A beep is a short, single tone, typically high-pitched, generally made by a computer or other machine. The term has its origin in onomatopoeia.

The word "beep-beep" is recorded for the noise of a car horn in 1929, and the modern usage of "beep" for a high-pitched tone is attributed to Arthur C. Clarke in 1951.

In some computer terminals, the ASCII character code 7, bell character, outputs an audible beep. The beep is also sometimes used to notify the user when the BIOS is not working or there is some other error during the start up process, often during the power-on self-test (POST). A beep is also made when holding down too many keys at the same time, as the computer often cannot handle the processes.

Beeps are also used as a warning when a truck or bus is reversing. It can also be used to define the sound produced by a car horn. Colloquially, beep is also used to refer to the action of honking the car horn at someone, (e.g., "Why did that guy beep at me?"), and is more likely to be used with vehicles with higher-pitched horns. "Honk" is used if the sound is lower pitched (e.g. Volkswagen Beetles beep, but Oldsmobiles honk).

On trains, beeps may be used for communications between members of staff.

A beep is also considered a colloquialism to describe a second telephone call coming in on the same phone line as someone is currently speaking, either on a landline or mobile phone. The call waiting feature often outputs an audible "beep" noise to indicate that there is a second call coming in.

The electronic pager is often referred to as a "beeper" for the sound it emits to alert its owner to an incoming message.

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