Etymology

whitebeam

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Today it means: Any of various deciduous trees of the genus Sorbus subg. Aria (now Aria edulis), native to Eurasia, especially common whitebeam. Full definition →

Middle English witbeam
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromwitbeam
  2. English todaywhitebeam

From Middle English witbeam, equivalent to white + beam (“tree”) – see Old English bēam (“tree”). In the name, white refers to the color of the leaves, when emergent and later the undersides.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.