berry

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English[edit]

Baskets of various berries in the common sense. Only blueberries are berries in the botanical sense.
Collage of four berries in the botanical sense, not to the same scale: red gooseberries (left), red currants (top), a persimmon (bottom) and grapes (right).
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Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English berye, from Old English beriġe, from Proto-Germanic *bazją[1] (compare German Beere, Danish bær), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰes- (“to blow, chew, rub”) (compare Tocharian B pās- (“to whisper”), Albanian fshij (“to sweep, wipe”), Ancient Greek ψάω (psaō, “I rub”), Sanskrit बभस्ति (bábhasti, “he chews, devours”))[2]. For the semantic development, compare Old Church Slavonic гроуша (gruša, “pear”), from гроушити (grušiti, “to break, destroy”); Latin pirum (“pear”), from *peis- (“to stick, pound”).[3]

Noun[edit]

berry (plural berries)

  1. A small fruit, of any one of many varieties.
  2. (botany) A soft fruit which develops from a single ovary and contains seeds not encased in pits.
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from "berry"
Translations[edit]
small fruit
soft fruit developing from a superior ovary and containing seeds not encased in pits
References[edit]
  1. ^ Marlies Philippa et al., eds., Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands, A-Z, s.v. “bes” (Amsterdam UP, 3 Dec. 2009): <http://www.etymologie.nl>.
  2. ^ J.P. Mallory & D.Q. Adams, eds., Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, s.vv. “blow”, “rub” (London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997), pp. 72, 490.
  3. ^ Vladimir Orel, A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, s.v. “*ƀazjan” (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 40.

Verb[edit]

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 go or not.
  2. To bear or produce berries.
Usage notes[edit]
  • Unlikely to be used to refer to commercial harvest of berries.
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English berȝe, berghe, from Old English beorġe, dative form of beorg (“mountain, hill, mound, barrow”), from Proto-Germanic *bergaz (“mountain, hill”). More at barrow.

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

berry (plural berries)

  1. (now chiefly dialectal) A mound; a barrow.

Etymology 3[edit]

From Middle English bery (“a burrow”). More at burrow.

Noun[edit]

berry (plural berries)

  1. (dialectal) A burrow, especially a rabbit's burrow.
  2. An excavation; a military mine.

Etymology 4[edit]

From Middle English beryen, berien, from Old English *berian (found only in past participle ġebered (“crushed, kneaded, harassed, oppressed, vexed”)), from Proto-Germanic *barjaną (“to beat, hit”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to rip, cut, split, grate”). Cognate with Scots berry, barry (“to thresh, thrash”), German beren (“to beat, knead”), Icelandic berja (“to beat”), Latin feriō (“strike, hit”, v).

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (transitive) To beat; give a beating to; thrash.
  2. (transitive) To thresh (grain).
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