Other forms: berths
A berth is a boat's allotted place at a quay, or a bed aboard a ship or train. A deep-water berth, book a berth, an upper berth.
The mooring sense is the older one, and berthing is bringing a vessel into place. A berth is also a sleeping place on a sleeper train or in a caravan. Figuratively, a berth is a position or job: a comfortable berth. Note give somebody a wide berth, meaning to keep well clear of them, which comes from leaving room to swing at anchor; and that berth and birth sound identical and are unrelated.
1nounberthA boat's place at a quay.
“The ferry moved slowly into its berth, and the passengers got ready to leave.”
2nounbedA bed on a ship or train.
“On the night train, I slept in the top berth of a tiny cabin.”
berth is an allotted place.
Middle English birth meant sea room or a ship's bearing, apparently from bear in the nautical sense of steering a course. The bed and the mooring both come from a ship's allotted space.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰer-
Middle English
birth — (nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth
English, today
berth
Built from
The noun is derived from Late Middle English birth (“(nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth”). Further etymology, but probably from beren (“to carry (away), bear”) + -th; if so, the English word is analysable as bear + -th, and is a birth. The verb is derived from the noun.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA