beech
Americannoun
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any deciduous tree of the genus Fagus, of temperate regions, having a smooth gray bark and bearing small, edible, triangular nuts.
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Also called beechwood. the wood from a beech tree of the genus Fagus, including the commonly cultivated European beech.
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any member of the beech family (Fagaceae).
noun
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any N temperate tree of the genus Fagus , esp F. sylvatica of Europe, having smooth greyish bark: family Fagaceae
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any tree of the related genus Nothofagus , of temperate Australasia and South America
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the hard wood of any of these trees, used in making furniture, etc
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See copper beech
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of beech
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 )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is April, my favorite month in the corner of South West England where I live, when the beech woods explode with wild bluebells and the star-headed flowers of wild garlic ripple in the breeze.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026
The texture of the Pooh stories then grew organically from the surrounding beech woods and the bridge over the Poohsticks stream.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026
While exploring the Lepini Mountains in central Italy, an area once logged for its old-growth beech trees, Andrea spotted a beetle resting on a cut log beside abandoned machinery.
From BBC • Oct. 14, 2025
Introduced species are wreaking havoc due to similar lack of evolved defenses in the American beech, many amphibian species and North American bats of different kinds.
From Salon • Jun. 15, 2025
At the foot of a beech tree, he found a pile of wolverine droppings: twisted, hairy, and so foul-smelling that they made his eyes water.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
