berry

berry · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Germanic*bazją
2. Proto-West Germanic*baʀi
3. Old Englishberġe
4. Middle Englishberie
5. English todayberry

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.

berry · noun²

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*bergaz“mountain, hill”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*berg
3. Old English · inherited frombeorġe
4. Middle English · inherited fromberȝe
5. English todayberry

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”).

berry · noun³

1. Middle English · inherited frombery“a burrow”
2. English todayberry

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

berry · verb⁴

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰerH-“to rip, cut, split, grate”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*barjaną“to beat, hit”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*barjan
4. Old English · inherited from*berian
5. Middle English · inherited fromberyen
6. English todayberry

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).

Berry · proper noun⁵

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-.

Berry · proper noun⁶

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

Berry · proper noun⁷

1. French · borrowed fromBerry
2. English todayBerry

From French Berry.

Words from the same roots