berk

See also: Berk and bərk

English

Etymology

Cockney rhyming slang, an ellipsis and clipping of Berkeley Hunt, a prominent hunt at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, to mean cunt.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɝk/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɜː(ɹ)k/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)k
• Homophone: birk

Noun

berk (plural berks)

1. (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang, derogatory, vulgar) Synonym of cunt in its various senses, (now especially somewhat endearing) a fool, a prat, a twit, etc. [1930]
   • 2003 July 12, Nicholas Lezard, “Ad execs quoting Gramsci? Only in France”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     His chat-up techniques have to be read to be imagined—they make the crudest of Loaded-style berks seem classy—and he earns far, far too much money.

   • 2006 February 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, season 1, episode 2:

     I don't know why they couldn't just keep it as it was! How hard is it to remember 911?
     You mean 999...
     I mean 999!
     That's the American one!
     Yeah!
     You berk.

Usage notes

Although the term remains in fairly wide use, its specific origin and meaning in rhyming slang is less well known, lessening its vulgarity. In particular, berk is almost never parsed as gendered in the way cunt often is.

Synonyms

• See cunt and Thesaurus:fool and idiot

See also

• Belvoir (pronounced Beaver)

References

• "berk" in Chambers Dictionary
• "berk" in Jonathon Green's Cassell's Dictionary of Slang →ISBN
• Jonathon Green (2023), “berk n.”, in Green's Dictionary of Slang

Anagrams

• brek, kerb

Albanian

Etymology 1

From berr (cf. derk from derr).

Noun

berk m (plural berqe, definite berku, definite plural berqet)

1. goat

Declension

Declension of berk

	indefinite		definite
	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	berk	berqe	berku	berqet
accusative			berkun
dative	berku	berqeve	berkut	berqevet
ablative		berqesh

Related terms

• berr

Etymology 2

From Proto-Albanian *bardz(i)ka, from *bardza > bardhë (“white”). Similar sense development as in barmë.

Noun

berk m (plural berqe, definite berku, definite plural berqet)

1. (botany) sapwood, alburnum
2. (dialectal) bark

Declension

Declension of berk

	indefinite		definite
	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	berk	berqe	berku	berqet
accusative			berkun
dative	berku	berqeve	berkut	berqevet
ablative		berqesh

Related terms

• barmë

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch berke, from Old Dutch *berka, from Proto-West Germanic *berku, from Proto-Germanic *berkō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵós.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛrk/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: berk
• Rhymes: -ɛrk

Noun

berk m (plural berken, diminutive berkje n)

1. birch, tree of the genus Betula

   Synonym: berkenboom

Derived terms

• berkenboom
• berkenroede
• berkhaan
• berkhoen

Descendants

• Afrikaans: berk

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛʁk/

• Audio

  (file)

Interjection

berk

1. Alternative form of beurk: yuck!

Old Norse

Contraction

berk

1. (bragarmál) Contraction of ber ek.

Turkish

Etymology 1

From Ottoman Turkish برك‎ (berk), from Proto-Turkic *berk (“mighty”). Related to pek.

Adjective

berk

1. strong, hard, robust, violent

   Synonyms: sert, katı

2. heroic
3. firm, solid

   Synonym: sağlam

References

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “berk1”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “برك”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 356
• Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003) Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill: “*parki”

Etymology 2

From Ottoman Turkish برق‎ (berk), from Arabic بَرْق‎ (barq).

Noun

berk (definite accusative berki, plural berkler) (archaic)

1. lightning

References

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “berk2”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Avery, Robert et al., editors (2013) The Redhouse Dictionary Turkish/Ottoman English, 21st edition, Istanbul: Sev Yayıncılık, →ISBN