barberry
/ˈbɑɹbɛɹi/noun
barberry is spelled B-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 14 million words in written English, the 113,022nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, barberry means “Any of the thorny shrubs of genus Berberis, which bear yellow flowers and red or blue-black berries” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of barberry is barberries.
How many letters and syllables are in barberry?
| Letters | 8: B-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 14 million words; the 113,022nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is barberry?
Barberry appears about once in every 14 million words in written English, the 113,022nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce barberry?
- /ˈbɑɹbɛɹi/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-barberry.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of barberry
- barberries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does barberry mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of the thorny shrubs of genus Berberis, which bear yellow flowers and red or blue-black berries.
- 2
The edible fruit of these shrubs.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Barberry in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Berberis:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | épine-vinette |
| German | Berberitze, Sauerdorn, Essigbeere |
| Portuguese | bérberis, uva-espim |
| Spanish | agracejo, alarguez, michay, calafate |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does barberry come from?
From Middle English berberie, from Medieval Latin berberis (on which see Arabic بَرْبَارِيس (barbārīs)), influenced by berie (“berry”). Doublet of berberis and related to Berber.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).