different between beck vs berk

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Etymology 1

From Middle English bek, bekk, becc, from Old Norse bekkr (“a stream or brook”), from Proto-Germanic *bakiz (“stream”).

Cognate with Low German bek, beck, German Bach, Dutch beek, Swedish bäck, Old English bæc, bec, bæ?e, be?e (“beck, brook”). Doublet of batch. More at beach.

Noun

beck (plural becks)

1. (Norfolk, Northern English dialect) A stream or small river.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion song 1 p. 3[1]:

     […] Whence, climing to the Cleeves, her selfe she firmlie sets / The Bourns, the Brooks, the Becks, the Rills, the Rivilets […]

   • 1847, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, chapter XIII:

     {...} the sky is blue, and the larks are singing, and the becks and brooks are all brim full.

Synonyms

Derived terms

• Troutbeck

Etymology 2

From Middle English bekken, a shortened form of Middle English bekenen, from Old English b?cnan, b?acnian (“to signify; beckon”), from Proto-West Germanic *baukn, from Proto-Germanic *baukn? (“beacon”). More at beacon.

Noun

beck (plural becks)

1. A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, especially as a call or command.

Derived terms

• beck and call

Translations

Verb

beck (third-person singular simple present becks, present participle becking, simple past and past participle becked)

1. (archaic) To nod or motion with the head.

Etymology 3

See back.

Noun

beck (plural becks)

1. A vat.

Etymology 4

From Middle English bec, bek, from Old French bec (“beak”),

Noun

beck (plural becks)

1. Obsolete form of beak.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?k(i)

Noun

beck m (plural becks)

1. Alternative spelling of beque

Swedish

Etymology

From Middle Low German pik, from Latin pix. See also Dutch pek, German Pech.

Pronunciation

• Homophone: bäck

Noun

beck n

1. pitch; A dark, extremely viscous material remaining in still after distilling crude oil and tar.

Declension

Related terms

• becksvart

English

Etymology

The usage dates from the 1930s; berk is a shortened version of Berkeley Hunt, the hunt based at Berkeley Castle, in Gloucestershire. In Cockney rhyming slang, hunt is a rhyme for cunt, giving the word its original slang meaning.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /b??(?)k/
• Rhymes: -??(?)k
• Homophone: birk

Noun

berk (plural berks)

1. (Britain, slang, derogatory, sometimes endearing) A fool, prat, twit.
2. (Cockney rhyming slang, vulgar) Cunt.

Usage notes

Not perceived as excessively rude, perhaps because its origin in rhyming slang is not well known.

See also

• Belvoir (pronounced Beaver)

References

• Chambers Dictionary: Entry for berk
• Cassell's Dictionary of Slang. Jonathon Green. Pub. Cassel & Co. ?ISBN

Anagrams

• brek, kerb

Albanian

Etymology 1

From berr (cf. derk from derr).

Noun

berk m (indefinite plural berqe, definite singular berku, definite plural berqet)

1. goat

Declension

Related terms

• berr

Etymology 2

From Proto-Albanian *bardz(i)ka, from *bardza > bardhë (“white”). Similar sense development as in barmë.

Noun

berk m (indefinite plural berqe, definite singular berku, definite plural berqet)

1. (botany) sapwood, alburnum
2. (dialectal) bark

Declension

Related terms

• barmë

References

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch berke, from Old Dutch *berka, from Proto-West Germanic *berku, from Proto-Germanic *berk?, from Proto-Indo-European *b?erH?ós.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?rk/
• Hyphenation: berk
• Rhymes: -?rk

Noun

berk m (plural berken, diminutive berkje n)

1. birch, tree of the genus Betula

   Synonym: berkenboom

Derived terms

• berkenboom
• berkenroede
• berkhaan
• berkhoen

Descendants

• Afrikaans: berk

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b??k/

Interjection

berk

1. Alternative form of beurk: yuck!

Turkish

Etymology

From Old Turkic [script needed] (bérk), from Proto-Turkic *berk (“mighty”). Related to pek.

Adjective

berk

1. strong, hard, robust, violent
2. heroic
3. firm, solid

Synonyms

• sert, kat? [1]
• sa?lam [2]

References

• Ni?anyan, Sevan (2002–) , “berk”, in Ni?anyan Sözlük
• Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003) Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill: “*parki”