Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Birch |
BirchAdjective1. Consisting of or made of wood of the birch tree. Noun1. Hard close-grained wood of any of various birch trees; used especially in furniture and interior finishes and plywood. 2. Any betulaceous tree or shrub of the genus Betula having a thin peeling bark. 3. Bundle of birch twigs used to hit people as punishment. Verb1. Whip with a birch twig. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "birch" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
{| width="200" align="right" ||--------- |A birch tree (
) |--------- |
|--------- |Above; bark of Siver birch (Betula pendula) |--------- |
|--------- |Above; timber of Silver birch (Betula pendula) |}
Birch is the name of any tree of the genus Betula, in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. These are generally small to medium-size trees or shrubs, mostly of northern temperate climates. The simple leaves may be toothed or lobed. The fruit is a small samara, although the wings may be obscure in some species.
In times past, commercial oil of wintergreen (methyl salicylate) was made from the sweet birch, Betula lenta.
Birches of eastern North America include:
See also; Trees of Britain, Trees of the world
- Betula allegheniensis -- yellow birch
- Betula glandulosa -- dwarf birch
- Betula lenta -- sweet birch (or black birch)
- Betula michauxii -- Newfoundland dwarf birch
- Betula nigra -- river birch
- Betula papyrifera -- white birch (or paperbark birch)
- Betula populifolia -- gray birch
- Betula pumila -- swamp birch
- Betula pendula -- Silver birch, is native to Europe and parts of Asia.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Birch."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Birch is a town located in Lincoln County, Wisconsin. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 801.Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 93.5 km² (36.1 mi²). 92.6 km² (35.8 mi²) of it is land and 0.9 km² (0.3 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.97% water.Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 801 people, 179 households, and 134 families residing in the town. The population density is 8.6/km² (22.4/mi²). There are 250 housing units at an average density of 2.7/km² (7.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the town is 76.53% White, 11.49% African American, 4.62% Native American, 1.37% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 2.00% from other races, and 4.00% from two or more races. 4.87% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 179 households out of which 36.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.6% are married couples living together, 5.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 24.6% are non-families. 22.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 6.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.65 and the average family size is 3.10. In the town the population is spread out with 54.7% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 16.4% from 25 to 44, 16.6% from 45 to 64, and 6.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 18 years. For every 100 females there are 264.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 125.5 males. The median income for a household in the town is $41,442, and the median income for a family is $45,938. Males have a median income of $32,031 versus $25,278 for females. The per capita income for the town is $11,074. 9.5% of the population and 8.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 15.3% are under the age of 18 and 4.8% are 65 or older.Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Birch, Wisconsin."
Synonyms: BirchSynonyms: birchen (adj), birken (adj), birch rod (n), birch tree (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Punishment | Strike; deal a blow to, administer the lash, smite; slap, slap the face; smack, cuff, box the ears, spank, thwack, thump, beat, lay on, swinge, buffet; thresh, thrash, pummel, drub, leather, trounce, sandbag, baste, belabor; lace, lace one's jacket; dress, dress down, give a dressing, trim, warm, wipe, tund, cob, bang, strap, comb, lash, lick, larrup, wallop, whop, flog, scourge, whip, birch, cane, give the stick, switch, flagellate, horsewhip, bastinado, towel, rub down with an oaken towel, rib roast, dust one's jacket, fustigate, pitch into, lay about one, beat black and blue; beat to a mummy, beat to a jelly; give a black eye. |
Scourge | Noun: scourge, rod, cane, stick; ratan, rattan; birch, birch rod; azote, |
Ship | Catamaran, hydroplane, hovercraft,coracle, gondola, carvel, caravel; felucca, caique, canoe, birch bark canoe, dugout canoe; galley, galleyfoist; bilander, dogger, hooker, howker; argosy, carack; galliass, galleon; polacca, polacre, tartane, junk, lorcha, praam, proa, prahu, saick, sampan, xebec, dhow; dahabeah; nuggah; kayak, keel boat, log canoe, pirogue; |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Birch Street Gym (1991) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Whale sculptures grace the fountain at the Birch Aquarium. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | Birch Island beach showing gradation of sediment from coarse pebbles to sand as one moves up from the shoreline. Seaweed is evident along "rack" line showing furthest extent of normal high tide. Wildflower seeds float in on algae and take root helping preserve sediment. Credit: America's Coastlines. |
 | Birch Trees White Mts NF, NH. Credit: USDA. |  | Peak between 4 Mile and Birch Creeks in the Owyhee Breaks Wilderness Study Area. OR 3-59. Credit: Unknown. |
 | The Birch Creek Historical Ranch pasture. Credit: Unknown. |  | Sergei Kanyshev, master at plaiting birch bark, Kargopol', Russia. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. |
 | Fall landscape, pine tree and birch grove near Sinii Utyos, Russia. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. |  | Siberian fall landscape, field and birch grove, Near Ingaly, Russia. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. |
 | View from Trans-Siberian Railway east of Krasnoiarsk; larch, pine, and birch trees, near Kosogor, Russia. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. |  | Birch grove, after snowfall on September 29, near Galalino, Russia. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Birch in granite" by Thomas Kelleher Commentary: "B/w birch in granite at NH quarry." | "Winter birch" by Jonas Funk Johannessen Commentary: "Frosty birch captured in backlight." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Similarly, people who have severe birch pollen allergy also may react to the peel of apples. (references) | |
Business | When given choices of wood, they prefer oak, birch or mahogany wood and are willing to pay extra for furniture made of these woods because they tend to last longer and are perceived as a good investment. (references) | |
Economic History | West Bank | They generally prefer oak, birch, or mahogany and prefer to pay extra for quality furniture, which can be kept for a long time. (references) |
Vietnam | During the same period, U.S. exports of hardwood lumber to Vietnam were a near record US $789,000, mostly of cherry, ash, and birch for furniture and office remodeling projects. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Birch" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 57.96% of the time. "Birch" is used about 383 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 57.96% | 222 | 20,237 |
| Noun (proper) | 42.04% | 161 | 24,661 |
| Total | 100.00% | 383 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "birch" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Birch | Last name | 4,000 | 3,012 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
| Country | Name |
| United Kingdom | Berry Birch and Noble Plc |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "birch": american dwarf birch ♦ american gray birch ♦ american white birch ♦ birch bark canoe ♦ birch Bay ♦ birch beer ♦ birch camphor ♦ birch Creek ♦ birch family ♦ birch Harbor ♦ birch Island ♦ birch leaf miner ♦ Birch of Jamaica ♦ birch oil ♦ Birch partridge ♦ birch River ♦ birch rod ♦ birch Run ♦ birch Tree ♦ birch twigs ♦ Birch wine ♦ birch wood ♦ black birch ♦ canoe birch ♦ cherry birch ♦ common birch ♦ curly birch ♦ downy birch ♦ european white birch ♦ gray birch ♦ mountain birch ♦ Newfoundland dwarf birch ♦ oil of birch ♦ paper birch ♦ red birch ♦ river birch ♦ silver birch ♦ swamp birch ♦ sweet birch ♦ water birch ♦ weeping birch ♦ Western birch ♦ Western paper birch ♦ white birch ♦ yellow birch ♦ Yukon white birch. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "birch": birch-bark, birch-branch, birch-broom, birch-hazel, birch-hazel-oak-alder, birch-lined, birch-studded, birch-trees, birch-twig, birch-wood. | |
Ending with "birch": Corder-birch, silver-birch. | |
Containing "birch": sweet-birch oil. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
birch | 1,149 | birch robert frost | 45 |
thora birch | 872 | birch john | 41 |
birch bark | 553 | silver birch | 39 |
birch tree | 334 | birch beer | 38 |
river birch | 165 | birch carroll coyle | 38 |
birch john society | 153 | birch bay washington | 37 |
birch run | 141 | birch carrol coyle | 37 |
birch run michigan | 124 | thora birch pic | 28 |
birch telecom | 120 | birch plywood | 28 |
nude thora birch | 118 | birch bay wa | 28 |
birch bay | 100 | thora birch picture | 28 |
birch aquarium | 93 | birch weeping | 27 |
simon birch | 88 | baltic birch plywood | 25 |
birch house white | 83 | b b birch inn | 24 |
birch run outlet | 77 | birch carol coyle | 24 |
river birch tree | 76 | thora birch naked | 24 |
birch hill | 73 | birch outlet prime run | 23 |
white birch tree | 68 | bay birch slide water | 23 |
birch mall outlet run | 67 | birch paper | 23 |
white birch | 66 | birch club hill night | 23 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "birch"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | berkeboom, berk. (various references) | |
Albanian | thupër (bar, cane, drumstick, fiddlestick, ramrod, rod, stick, wand, withy), mështekën (birch tree). (various references) | |
Arabic | قضيب من البتولا, عصا التأديب, خشب البتولا, جلد (belabour, belt, curry, cut, drub, drubbing, endurance, flagellation, flog, flogging, fortitude, gladiatorial, hide, integument, lacing, lambaste, lash, lashing, leather, licking, pasting, patience, scourge, self control, skin, slash, slashing, stamina, sting, sufferance, switch, tan, thrash, thump, toleration, trounce, whip, whipping), شجر القضبان. (various references) | |
Blackfoot | sííkokíínis (birch tree). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | бреза, дървен материал от бреза. (various references) | |
Chinese | 樺木 , 桦树 (Birches). (various references) | |
Cornish | besewen (birch tree). (various references) | |
Czech | březová metla, bříza. (various references) | |
Danish | birk. (various references) | |
Dutch | berk (birk), berkeboom. (various references) | |
Esperanto | betulo. (various references) | |
Faeroese | bjørk. (various references) | |
Farsi | غان , توس , درخت فان , درخت غوشه . (various references) | |
Finnish | koivu. (various references) | |
French | bouleau. (various references) | |
Frisian | bjirk. (various references) | |
German | Birke (birch tree), schlagen (bang, bash, bat, batter about, beat, belt, best, biff, blast, break, Bury, capture, chime, clang, clout, defeat, fell, flap, flog, hack out, hit, kick, kill, knock, knock about, knock around, knock out, lap, lash, mint, outride, Pat, pound, pounding, pummel, punch, punching, rattle, rattling, sing, slap, slash, slat, smack, smite, spank, stricken, strike, swat, take, throb, thump, thwack, to bang, to bash, to batter, to blast, to knock (at), to rap, to slap, trim, wallop, wash, whip, whip up, whisk). (various references) | |
Greek | σημύδα. (various references) | |
Hungarian | nyírfa (birch tree, birch-wood, white birch). (various references) | |
Irish | beith. (various references) | |
Italian | betulla (birchen). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 樺 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | かば (bulrush, cattail, hippopotamus). (various references) | |
Korean | 박달나무 (Birches). (various references) | |
Manx | custhey (beat, flog, lash), cur y clat da, beihagh (birchen), beih. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | irchbay.(various references) | |
Polish | brzoza. (various references) | |
Portuguese | vidoeiro, bétula (birch tree). (various references) | |
Romanian | vergea (rod, rolling pin, wand, whip), mesteacãn. (various references) | |
Romany | brezà (birch tree). (various references) | |
Russian | береза. (various references) | |
Scottish | beith. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | breza, prut (rod, switch, with), šiba (gantlet, gauntlet, splint, switch). (various references) | |
Spanish | abedul (birch tree). (various references) | |
Swedish | björk. (various references) | |
Thai | ต้นไม้ชนิดหนึ่ง (box, thorn apple). (various references) | |
Turkish | sopayla dövmek, sopalamak (beat with a stick, bludgeon, cane, club, cudgel, curry, ferule), huş ağacından sopa, huş ağacı, falaka sopası (birc-rod). (various references) | |
Turkmen | berяoza (r). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | човник з березової кори, береза, бити різкою. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | giống cây cáng lò. (various references) | |
Welsh | bedwen. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Betula spp.. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "birch": birched, birchen, birches, birching. (additional references) | |
| |
"Birch" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: baich, bairk, Barchuk, baroch, bauch, berc, berce, berch, Berche, berich, berk, Biachu, bich, bicth, Bimco, Binch, Biorich, birche, birchy, birh, birsch, Bisch, Bitchu, Bkirki, Borch, Borkh, brc, brich, bricht, Brisch, brk, burch, Burchi, Byrch, irch, Kirch, zirch. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "birch" (pronounced ber"kh) |
| 2 | -er" kh | church, lurch, perch, research, search. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-c-h-i-r" | |
-1 letter: crib, rich. | |
-2 letters: chi, hic, ich, rib. | |
-3 letters: bi, hi. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-c-h-i-r" | |
+2 letters: birched, birchen, birches, brachia, brioche, bronchi, pibroch, rhombic. | |
+3 letters: abrachia, beachier, bedchair, beechier, besmirch, bichrome, birching, birrotch, bitchery, bitchier, botchier, brachial, brachium, brackish, branchia, brioches, britches, bronchia, bunchier, cherubic, cherubim, choirboy, choriamb, chubbier, pibrochs, tribrach. | |
+4 letters: abrachias, bedchairs, bishopric, blotchier, brachials, brachiate, branchiae, branchial, branchier, branching, breaching, breeching, broaching, bronchial, bronchium, brunching, charbroil, chemisorb, cherubims, chipboard, choirboys, choriambs, herbicide, hubristic, tribrachs. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Names: Frequency 12. Names: Company Usage | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
