orchard

American  

[awr-cherd] / ˈɔr tʃərd /

noun

• orchards
  plural

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

2. a group or collection of such trees.

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orchard British  

/ ˈɔːtʃəd /

noun

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

2. a collection of fruit trees especially cultivated

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• orchards
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of orchard

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

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Explanation

An orchard is a tree garden. If you visit New England in autumn, make sure to stop by a local apple orchard and pick a few baskets to take home. From the Old English orceard blossomed our modern-day spelling of orchard, a noun meaning “fruit farm.” But you can also use the word figuratively to refer to something filled with treats or precious content. The US Congregational minister, Henry Ward Beecher, was famous for having proclaimed, “A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

orchard orchards

There’s something about an apple orchard that’s just suffused with nostalgia, especially if the trees bear heirloom fruits.

From Slate ● Oct. 24, 2026

Dispatches from the orchard front include complaints of apple theft that have required searches at the exits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

Are we overindulging our manic search for connection in an orchard of earthly delights?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

The company, which buys land to restore it to nature, said a traditional orchard "that once stood on the land but was lost over a century ago" would be reinstated.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

I walked out to the middle of the orchard and took a deep breath.

From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan

He moved his wife and three children to what is now known as Silicon Valley but was then mostly fruit orchards south of San Francisco.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

They leased new Pontiacs and drove into the fruit orchards looking for startup companies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

I spent the summer watching farmers install showers for cows, watch their cauliflowers burn to a crisp in the heat, and search for apples in cider orchards reduced to a tenth of their normal crop.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Shallow groundwater stores supported fruit orchards, alfalfa fields, livestock ranches and, at one point, a water park and dozens of manmade lakes where people could fish, sail and water ski.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

Below them as they came safely down to land, the surrounding orchards were foamy with white apple and cherry blossoms, in spite of the bloodshed so close by.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

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Related Words

• garden
• plantation

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