Etymo

buckwheat

A plant whose seeds are ground into flour.

Played on · Day 67 · word 1 of 5

The buck is a tree

How buckwheat reached English

oldest first

Simplified path. The puzzle showed the main steps; the full route is being checked.

  • boeke‘beech’
  • weite‘wheat’

combined

  1. Middle Dutch

    boecweite

    ‘Buckwheat; literally beech wheat’

    into English

  2. English

    buckwheat

    ‘The crop’

The story of buckwheat

The Middle Dutch compound compares the seeds with beechnuts. Its pieces mean beech and wheat.

Sources

Related

The modern first syllable can mislead you toward a male animal.

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