# birch

> English word · Noun · IPA /bɜːtʃ/ · frequency rank #14,896

## Definitions
1. Any of various trees of the genus Betula, native to countries in the Northern Hemisphere.
2. A hard wood taken from the birch tree, typically used to make furniture.
3. A stick, rod or bundle of twigs made from birch wood, used for punishment.
4. A birch-bark canoe.

## Etymology
PIE word
 *bʰerHǵós
From Middle English birche, birk, from Old English birċe, bierċe, from Proto-West Germanic *birkijā, from Proto-Germanic *birkijǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵos.
Cognates
Compare West Frisian bjirk, German Birke, variant of *berkō (compare Dutch berk, Danish birk, Swedish björk, Norwegian bjørk), Sanskrit भूर्ज (bhūrjá), Lithuanian béržas, Czech bříza, Ossetian бӕрз (bærz), Russian берёза (berjóza)), Latin fraxinus (“ash tree, ash javelin”), Albanian bredh.

## Easily confused with
- **bird** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-bird)
- **bruh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-bruh)
- **brah** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-brah)
- **birth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-birth)
- **bitch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-bitch)
- **birds** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-birds)
- **bunch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-bunch)
- **butch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-butch)
- **Busch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-busch)
- **Burch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-burch)
- **Bloch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-bloch)
- **burgh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-burgh)
- **birdy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-birdy)
- **bitchy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/birch-vs-bitchy)
- **Bic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bic-vs-birch)
- **Bir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bir-vs-birch)
- **bach** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bach-vs-birch)
- **beach** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beach-vs-birch)
- **bench** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bench-vs-birch)
- **batch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/batch-vs-birch)

## Common misspellings (8)
`bbirch`, `bicrh`, `bircch`, `birchh`, `birhc`, `birrch`, `brich`, `ibrch`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/birch