berry

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

[edit] English

Baskets of various berries.

[edit] Etymology

Old English beriġe, from Proto-Germanic *ƀazjon 'berry', from Indo-European 'chew', akin to Sanskrit bábhasti 'to chew, masticate, devour'. Cognate with Dutch bes, German Beere, Gothic weina-basi 'wineberry, grape'. For the semantic development, compare: Old Church Slavonic gruša 'pear', from grušiti 'to break, destroy', Latin pirum 'pear', from *peis 'to stick, pound'.

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbɛri/
• enPR: bĕ'ri, SAMPA: /"bEri/

  Rhymes: -ɛri

• Homophones: bury
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

[edit] Noun

berry (plural berries)

1. A small fruit, of any one of many varieties.
2. A soft fruit which develops from a superior ovary and contains seeds not encased in pits.

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to berry (third-person singular simple present berries, present participle berrying, simple past and past participle berried)

1. To pick berries.

   On summer days Grandma used to take us berrying, whether we wanted to or not.

[edit] Usage notes

• Unlikely to be used to refer to commercial harvest of berries.