orchard

[awr-cherd]

noun

1. an area of land devoted to the cultivation of fruit or nut trees.

2. a group or collection of such trees.

orchard

/ ˈɔːtʃəd /

noun

1. an area of land devoted to the cultivation of fruit trees

2. a collection of fruit trees especially cultivated

Word History and Origins

Origin of orchard¹

before 900; Middle English orch ( i ) ard, Old English orceard; replacing ortyard, Middle English ortyerd, Old English ortigeard (compare Gothic aurtigards garden), equivalent to ort- (combining form akin to wort ²; later identified with Latin hortus garden) + geard yard ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of orchard¹

Old English orceard, ortigeard, from ort-, from Latin hortus garden + geard _yard ²

Example Sentences

The Harrison apple nearly vanished in the 20th century but now grows in one of the world’s highest-elevation orchards at Colorado’s Snow Capped.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Hundreds of thousands of times each year in California, farmers and their contractors spray pesticides on fields and orchards in the state’s agricultural heartlands.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He started working in the orchards when he was 12 years old to help his father buy food and pay the bills.

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There was no dense and mysterious forest nearby, only bright orchards of fruit trees arranged in tidy rows, and the spires of Swanburne’s chapel were visible for miles around.

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Isabella Dalla Ragione hunts in abandoned gardens and orchards for forgotten fruits, preserving Italy's agricultural heritage and saving varieties which could help farmers withstand the vagaries of a changing climate.

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Related Words

• garden 
• plantation