Other forms: beeches
A beech is a smooth grey-barked tree with a deep shady canopy. A beech wood, a copper beech, beech leaves.
Almost nothing grows beneath one, because the leaves come out early and let very little light through, which is why a beech wood has that bare open floor. The word is related to book, from the old practice of writing on beech tablets.
1nounbeechA smooth grey-barked tree with a deep shady canopy.
“In autumn the beech trees along the lane turned a deep copper colour.”
beech is a tree.
Old English bece, from a Germanic root. Book is related, from writing on beech tablets.
Proto-West Germanic
*bōkijā — beech
Old English
bēċe
Middle English
beche
English, today
beech
From Middle English beche, from Old English bēċe, from Proto-West Germanic bōkijā (“beech”). a doublet of buky. Related to English book.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA