beech

[ beech ]

noun

1. any deciduous tree of the genus Fagus, of temperate regions, having a smooth gray bark and bearing small, edible, triangular nuts.
2. Also called beechwood. the wood from a beech tree of the genus Fagus, including the commonly cultivated European beech.
3. any member of the beech family (Fagaceae).

beech

/ biːtʃ /

noun

1. any N temperate tree of the genus Fagus , esp F. sylvatica of Europe, having smooth greyish bark: family Fagaceae
2. any tree of the related genus Nothofagus , of temperate Australasia and South America
3. the hard wood of any of these trees, used in making furniture, etc
4. See copper beech

Derived Forms

• ˈbeechen, adjective

Other Words From

• beech·en adjective
• beech·y adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of beech¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English beche, Old English bēce, bōce, from Proto-Germanic bōkjōn-; akin to Old Saxon, Middle Low German boke, Dutch beuk, Old High German buohha ( German Buche ), Old Norse bōk, Latin fāgus “beech,” Doric Greek phāgós “oak,” Albanian bung “oak” (apparently not akin to book )

Word History and Origins

Origin of beech¹

Old English bēce ; related to Old Norse bók , Old High German buohha , Middle Dutch boeke , Latin fāgus beech, Greek phēgos edible oak

Example Sentences

Instead, to deliver some guts, the Austrian brand’s designers trusted the damping and stability of its poplar and beech core.

From Outside Online

Two sheets of titanal back a poplar and beech wood core with most of the denser beech positioned underfoot for added power.

From Outside Online

These relationships are important for the southern beech trees that dominate Patagonia’s forests.

From Popular-Science

Sleep behavior has been researched in birches and oaks, and beeches can measure day length—all of this requires light receptors that transmit signals to the trees and spur the whole organism into action.

From Nautilus

Beech-Nut is still in existence, and is the third largest baby food manufacturer in the United States.

From The Daily Beast

White King Soap sponsored the show on the West Coast, and Beech-Nut Gum in the East.

From The Daily Beast

With just two small, double engine Beech 18s and a handful of employees, Phoenix was born.

From The Daily Beast

There were long brown mountains and a few pines and far-off forests of beech-trees on some of the mountainsides.

From The Daily Beast

Somewhere over the rainbow—specifically atop Beech Mountain in western North Carolina—a yellow brick road leads straight to Oz.

From The Daily Beast

It has been shown by Chevandrier, that an acre of land under beech wood accumulates annually about 1650 lb.

From Project Gutenberg

The emblems on his monument are a branch of beech, a winged A, a wreathed snake and a lamp.

From Project Gutenberg

We had no time to make a dash for the house, so we took shelter under some spreading beech trees at the edge of the woods.

From Project Gutenberg

There used to be a tradition that lightning never strikes a beech tree, but that was not our reason for choosing them.

From Project Gutenberg

In a little while the high beech-ridge over which she had been travelling ended in a narrow cedar-swamp.

From Project Gutenberg