beats me
7
8.6
- idiom
- Informal
:
no tengo idea
- - Yeah, that beats me.
Examples
-
Beats me, but this guy managed it.
Fiction book (1999) -
I asked why the project was delayed, and she just shrugged and said, 'beats me.'
-
What anybody ever wanted to marry her for beats me.
-
Beats me how they do it.
-
Do you know, it beats me how any woman... could have anything to do with that twit.
-
What beats me is, why a bookmobile?
Fiction book (1997) -
"Beats me, too," Lamar replied.
Fiction book (1999) -
Beats me.
-
It beats me.
Academic text (2000) -
"Beats me," Curt answered.
Fiction book (1999)
Synonyms
80
6.4
To not know anything about a subject or situation
5
7.5
To not know anything at all about something
1
9.9
Tells others you have no idea and is rude
1
7.4
Something you say when you do not know the answer any more than the other person does
Antonyms
How Certain
- Informal
31
9.3
- Informal
7
8.6
- Informal
1
7.4
- Offensive
1
9.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
beat + me
The phrase "beats me" derives from a non-literal sense of "beat" meaning 'to be too much for' or 'to defeat', so a learner who knows that extended sense can infer "it defeats me" → "I don't know'. However, the literal sense 'to strike' plus "me" does not directly yield the idiomatic meaning, and many B1 learners will need exposure to the fixed phrase; cross-linguistic parallels (e.g. English "it surpasses me", French "ça me dépasse") make the logic partially accessible but not fully predictable.
Etymology
Beats me comes from an old use of beat meaning 'to defeat' or 'to be too much for' someone. Imagine a question so hard it 'beats' you and you have no answer. That's why beats me means 'I don't know'.