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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

beaver.

A semiaquatic rodent of the genus Castor, having a wide, flat tail and webbed feet, native to the Northern Hemisphere.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈbiːvə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈbivɚ/General-American
  1. A semiaquatic rodent of the genus Castor, having a wide, flat tail and webbed feet, native to the Northern Hemisphere.

    countable
  2. The fur of the beaver.

    countable · uncountable
  3. A hat, of various shapes, made from a felted beaver fur (or later of silk), fashionable in Europe between 1550 and 1850.

    countable
  4. Beaver pelts as an article of exchange or as a standard of value.

    Canada · US · countable · uncountable
  5. Beaver cloth, a heavy felted woollen cloth, used chiefly for making overcoats.

    countable · uncountable
  6. A brown colour, like that of a beaver.

    countable · uncountable
  7. A move in response to being doubled, in which one immediately doubles the stakes again, keeping the doubling cube on one’s own side of the board.

    countable
  8. Alternative letter-case form of Beaver (“member of the youngest wing of the Scout movement”).

    alt-of · countable · uncountable
  9. A beard or a bearded person.

    countable · slang
  10. A game, in which points are scored by spotting beards.

    historical · slang · uncountable
  11. The pubic hair near a vulva or a vulva itself; (attributively) denoting films or literature featuring nude women.

    Canada · US · countable · slang
  12. A woman, especially one who is sexually attractive.

    US · countable · offensive · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bever, from Old English befer, from Proto-West Germanic *bebru, from Proto-Germanic *bebruz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰébʰrus (“beaver”). Cognate with West Frisian bever, Dutch bever, French bièvre, German Biber, dialectal Swedish bjur. Non-Germanic cognates include Welsh befer, Latin fiber, Lithuanian bẽbras, Russian бобр (bobr), Avestan 𐬠𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬭𐬀 (bauura), and Sanskrit बभ्रु (bábhru, “mongoose; ichneumon”). Slang use to refer to a woman evolved from use to refer to pubic hair, which evolved from use to refer to beards, which evolved from use to refer to the furry animal or its fur.

verb/ˈbiːvə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈbivɚ/General-American
  1. To form a felt-like texture, similar to the way beaver fur is used for felt-making.

  2. To work hard.

  3. To cut a continuous ring around a tree that one is felling.

    slang
  4. After being doubled, to immediately double the stakes again, a move that keeps the doubling cube on one’s own side of the board.

  5. To spot a beard in a game of beaver.

    slang
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bever, from Old English befer, from Proto-West Germanic *bebru, from Proto-Germanic *bebruz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰébʰrus (“beaver”). Cognate with West Frisian bever, Dutch bever, French bièvre, German Biber, dialectal Swedish bjur. Non-Germanic cognates include Welsh befer, Latin fiber, Lithuanian bẽbras, Russian бобр (bobr), Avestan 𐬠𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬭𐬀 (bauura), and Sanskrit बभ्रु (bábhru, “mongoose; ichneumon”). Slang use to refer to a woman evolved from use to refer to pubic hair, which evolved from use to refer to beards, which evolved from use to refer to the furry animal or its fur.

noun/ˈbiːvə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈbivɚ/General-American
  1. Butter.

noun/ˈbiːvə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈbivɚ/General-American
  1. Alternative spelling of bevor (“part of a helmet”).

    alt-of · alternative
Where this word comes from

See bevor.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.