Meanings
bere1
alternative bear
- ScotlanduncountableBarley, especially four-rowed barley or six-rowed barley.
bere2
plural beres
- dialectalA pillowcase; a fabric case or covering as for a pillow; a pillowbere.
[...] he'd tossed me an extra pillow in a bere.
2014 April 1, Phil Rickman, The Heresy of Dr Dee, Atlantic Books, →ISBN1 more example
Woven and embroidered coverlets in imitation of tapestry appear as 'a tapestry covering which lieth on my bed' [...] 'a pillow of feathers with a bere' (pillow-case); 'two pillows and the beres to [cover them]'
1976, Essex Record Office, Publications
Origin
bere · noun
- Proto-Germanic*baraz“barley”
- Proto-West Germanic*barī
- Old Englishbere“barley”
- Middle Englishbere“barley”
- Englishbere
From Middle English bere (“barley”), from Old English bere (“barley”), from Proto-West Germanic *barī, from Proto-Germanic *baraz (“barley”). Compare Welsh bara (“bread”), Latin far (“emmer”), Serbo-Croatian бра̏шно/brȁšno (“flour”), Albanian bar (“grass”), Ancient Greek Φήρον (Phḗron, “plant deity”). See also: barley.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French escourgeon
- escourgeonsix-rowed barley
German Frühgerste, Futtergerste
- Frühgerstesix-rowed barley
- Futtergerstesix-rowed barley
Irish eorna bheag
- eorna bheagsix-rowed barley
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with bere
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
bere. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bere
“bere.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bere. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bere,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bere.
Source: bere on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.