Word
orchard
Phoneticsor·chard
US/ˈɔɹtʃɝd/
UK/ˈɔːtʃəd/
Definitions
01land for fruit trees
n. a piece of land where people grow fruit trees, like apples or pears.
n. a plantation of fruit trees, typically grown for commercial or domestic food production.
“We spent the afternoon picking ripe apples in the local orchard.”
“The family expanded their estate by planting a cherry orchard on the southern slope, where the soil was most fertile.”
Synonyms
02the trees themselves
n. the group of trees that grow in such an area.
n. the collective body of trees cultivated within a specific area.
“The orchard was white with blossoms in the early spring.”
“The heavy frost of late April threatened the entire orchard, potentially ruining the season's harvest before the fruit had even begun to set.”
Literary
Etymology
From Middle English orchard, orcherd, from Old English orċeard, ortġeard, a compound of ort (probably from Proto-Germanic urtiz, a dissimilated variant of Proto-Germanic *wurt- (“wort (plant)”), later incorrectly associated with unrelated Latin hortus (“garden”)) + ġeard (see hortyard and yard, which ironically is etymologically linked with hortus). Cognate with Swedish örtagård (“herb garden”), Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐌹𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐍃 (aurtigards, “orchard”), Old High German orzōn (“to cultivate a field”). Equivalent to wort + yard. More at root.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/orchard