birch

Meanings

Noun

• Any of various trees of the genus Betula, native to countries in the Northern Hemisphere.
• A hard wood taken from the birch tree, typically used to make furniture.
• A stick, rod or bundle of twigs made from birch wood, used for punishment.
• A birch-bark canoe.

Verb

• to punish with a stick, bundle of twigs, or rod made of birch wood.
• to punish as though one were using a stick, bundle of twigs, or rod made of birch wood.

Related

Similar words

• makepeace, switch

Origin

• From Middle English birche, birk, from Old English birċe, bierċe, from Proto-West Germanic *birkijā, from Proto-Germanic *birkijǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵos.
• Compare West Frisian bjirk, German Birke), variant of *berkō (compare Dutch berk, Swedish björk, Norwegian bjørk), Sanskrit भूर्ज, Lithuanian béržas, Czech bříza, Ossetian бӕрз, Russian берёза), Latin fraxinus ("ash tree, ash javelin").