hornbeam.
A tree of the genus Carpinus, having smooth grey bark and a ridged trunk, the wood being white and very hard, found in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Meaning & usage
A tree of the genus Carpinus, having smooth grey bark and a ridged trunk, the wood being white and very hard, found in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
A tree of the genus Carpinus, having smooth grey bark and a ridged trunk, the wood being white and very hard, found in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Especially, the American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), which is common along the banks of streams in the United States.
A tree of the genus Carpinus, having smooth grey bark and a ridged trunk, the wood being white and very hard, found in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Especially, the common hornbeam or European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus).
The wood of these trees or one species of them; (countable) a sample of such wood.
Where this word comes from
From Late Middle English hornbeme, hernbem, hernebem (“European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)”), from horn (“antler or horn of an animal; etc.”) + bem (“tree; piece of metal, wood, etc.”) (referring to a tree with wood as hard as horn): * Horn is from Old English horn (“horn”), from Proto-West Germanic *horn (“horn”), from Proto-Germanic *hurną (“horn”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“horn; head, top”). * Bem is from Old English bēam (“tree; piece of wood”), from Proto-West Germanic *baum (“tree; piece of wood”), possibly from Proto-Germanic *bagmaz (“tree; piece of wood”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂ǵʰ-mo-s (“branch”) or *bʰuH- (“to appear; to be; to become; to grow”). By surface analysis, horn + beam (“only in compounds: tree”).
Synonym of beam (“the principal stem of the antler of a deer, which branches grow out from”).
A beam or ray of light emanating from the head of a deity like a horn.
Where this word comes from
From horn + beam (“principal stem of the antler of a deer; ray of light”).
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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.