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Berry

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berry¹

  • /ˈbɛɹi/ US, UK
  • /ˈbeɹi/ Australia, New Zealand
  • [ˈbeɹi] ~ [ˈbe̞ɹi] Australia
  • [ˈbe̝ɹi] ~ [ˈbɪɹi] New Zealand
  • /ˈbɛɾi/ Scotland, Wales

Sounds like bury, Berry, Barry, beary (both only in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger) · Rhymes with -ɛɹi

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Germanic *bazją

Proto-West Germanic *baʀi

Old English berġe

Middle English berie

English berry

From Middle English berie, from Old English berġe, from Proto-West Germanic *baʀi, from Proto-Germanic *bazją.

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bäie, West Flemish beier, German Beere, Icelandic ber, Danish bær.

The slang sense "police car" may come from the lights on the vehicles' roofs.

noun berries

  1. A small succulent fruit, of any one of many varieties.
  2. A soft fruit which develops from a single ovary and contains seeds not encased in pits.
  3. A coffee bean.
  4. One of the ova or eggs of a fish or crustacean. The crabs carry their berries for six months.
  5. US, slang A police car. Today was like one of those fly dreams Didn't even see a berry flashin' those high beams
  6. US, dated, slang A dollar. Four rounds and Enright still on his feet and a hundred and fifty thousand berries gone if he stays two more!

Similar: berry

verb berries · berrying · berried

  1. intransitive 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.

berry²

  • /ˈbɛɹi/ US, UK
  • /ˈbeɹi/ Australia, New Zealand
  • [ˈbeɹi] ~ [ˈbe̞ɹi] Australia
  • [ˈbe̝ɹi] ~ [ˈbɪɹi] New Zealand
  • /ˈbɛɾi/ Scotland, Wales

Sounds like bury, Berry, Barry, beary (both only in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger) · Rhymes with -ɛɹi

Where it comes from

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

Cognates

Cognate with Scots burrow (“mound, tumulus, barrow”), North Frisian Bārig, beerch, beeri, beerj, berag, berig, berri, bärj (“mountain”), Saterland Frisian Bierich, Bíerig, Bäirch (“mountain”), West Frisian berch (“mountain”), Cimbrian pèrge (“mountain”), Dutch berg (“mountain”), German Berg (“mountain”), German Low German Barg (“mountain”), Limburgish berg, Bärrech (“hill, mountain”), Luxembourgish Bierg (“mountain”), Mòcheno pèrg (“mountain”), Yiddish באַרג (barg, “mountain”), Danish bjerg (“mountain”), Faroese berg, bjarg (“cliff”), bjørg (“cliffs”), Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish berg (“mountain”); also Northern Luri برگ (berg, “mountain”), Polish brzeg (“bank, shore”), Russian бе́рег (béreg, “bank, shore”).

noun berries · berye · berie

  1. dialectal A mound; a barrow.

Similar: berry

berry³

  • /ˈbɛɹi/ US, UK
  • /ˈbeɹi/ Australia, New Zealand
  • [ˈbeɹi] ~ [ˈbe̞ɹi] Australia
  • [ˈbe̝ɹi] ~ [ˈbɪɹi] New Zealand
  • /ˈbɛɾi/ Scotland, Wales

Sounds like bury, Berry, Barry, beary (both only in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger) · Rhymes with -ɛɹi

Where it comes from

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

noun berries

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

Similar: berry

berry⁴

  • /ˈbɛɹi/ US, UK
  • /ˈbeɹi/ Australia, New Zealand
  • [ˈbeɹi] ~ [ˈbe̞ɹi] Australia
  • [ˈbe̝ɹi] ~ [ˈbɪɹi] New Zealand
  • /ˈbɛɾi/ Scotland, Wales

Sounds like bury, Berry, Barry, beary (both only in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger) · Rhymes with -ɛɹi

Where it comes from

From Middle English beryen, berien, from Old English *berian (found only in past participle ġebered (“crushed, kneaded, harassed, oppressed, vexed”)), from Proto-West Germanic *barjan, from Proto-Germanic *barjaną (“to beat, hit”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“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”, verb).

verb berries · berrying · berried

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

Berry⁵

Sounds like berry, bury, Barry, beary (Mary–marry–merry merger) · Rhymes with -ɛɹi

Where it comes from

Variant of Bury and (in dialects with Mary-marry-merry merger) Barry. The given name is also a pet form of names beginning with Ber-.

proper noun

  1. A surname from Middle English.
  2. A male given name transferred from the surname. Beresford Conway. All my pals call me Berry.
  3. A town in Fayette County, Alabama, United States, named after Thompson Berry.
  4. A minor city in Harrison County, Kentucky, United States.
  5. A town in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States.
  6. A municipality in Abitibi Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada.
  7. A village in the City of Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Australia, named after Alexander Berry.

Berry⁶

Sounds like berry, bury, Barry, beary (Mary–marry–merry merger) · Rhymes with -ɛɹi

Where it comes from

From berry; also a pet form of Beryl, Berenice, or Berinthia.

proper noun

  1. rare A female given name from English. "I'm Beryl Shaddock. Call me Berry," the girl said.

Berry⁷

Sounds like berry, bury, Barry, beary (Mary–marry–merry merger) · Rhymes with -ɛɹi

Where it comes from

From French Berry.

proper noun

  1. A former province in Centre-Val de Loire region, France.

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