birch
/bɝt͡ʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.50 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any of various trees of the genus Betula, native to countries in the Northern Hemisphere.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A hard wood taken from the birch tree, typically used to make furniture.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A stick, rod or bundle of twigs made from birch wood, used for punishment.
Countable; Uncountable
verb
To punish as though one were using a stick, bundle of twigs, or rod made of birch wood.
Transitive verb
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "That the morrow would see us arraigned 'fore the Head And probably birched with a willow"
- "[…] and was tied to a tree and soundly birched with a bundle of furze"
- "The Mexica were always washing, in water obtained through the aqueduct, or in the lake, and would often go to the popular baths in the numerous stone steam houses (where birching, with grasses, or massage was also available)."
Etymology
PIE word *bʰerHǵós From Middle English birche, birk, from Old English birċe, bierċe, from Proto-West Germanic *birkijā, from Proto-Germanic *birkijǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵos. Cognates Compare West Frisian bjirk, German Birke, variant of *berkō (compare Dutch berk, Danish birk, Swedish björk, Norwegian bjørk), Sanskrit भूर्ज (bhūrjá), Lithuanian béržas, Czech bříza, Ossetian бӕрз (bærz), Russian берёза (berjóza)), Latin fraxinus (“ash tree, ash javelin”), Albanian bredh.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: birche, birċe, *birkijā, *birkijǭ, *bʰerHǵos
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bɝt͡ʃ/
- British English: /bɜːtʃ/