berth

English

Alternative forms

• birth, byrth (obsolete)

Etymology

Origin obscure. Possibly from Middle English *berth (“bearing, carriage”), equivalent to bear +‎ -th.

Alternatively, from an alteration of Middle English beard, bærde (“bearing, conduct”), itself of obscure formation. Compare Old English ġebǣru (“bearing, conduct, behaviour”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɜːθ/
• (US) enPR: bûrth, IPA^(key): /bɝθ/
• Homophone: birth
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)θ

Noun

berth (plural berths)

1. A fixed bunk for sleeping in (caravans, trains, etc).
2. Room for maneuvering or safety. (Often used in the phrase a wide berth.)
3. A space for a ship to moor or a vehicle to park.
4. (nautical) A room in which a number of the officers or ship's company mess and reside.
5. A job or position, especially on a ship.
6. (sports) Position or seed in a tournament bracket.
7. (sports) position on the field of play
   • 2012 December 29, Paul Doyle, “Arsenal's Theo Walcott hits hat-trick in thrilling victory over Newcastle”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Olivier Giroud then entered the fray and Walcott reverted to his more familiar berth on the right wing, quickly creating his side's fifth goal by crossing for Giroud to send a plunging header into the net from close range.

Translations

bunk

• Bulgarian: койка (kojka), място за спане (mjasto za spane)
• Catalan: camarot m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 床位 (zh) (chuángwèi)

• Dutch: kooi (nl) f
• Finnish: punkka (fi)
• French: couchette (fr)
• German: Koje (de) f, Schlafplatz (de) m
• Hungarian: ágy (hu), alvóhely (hu)
• Ido: liteto (io), navoliteto (io) (on a ship), trenoliteto (on a train), kabinetolito (io) (on a ship)

• Interlingue: lette
• Italian: cuccetta (it) f
• Japanese: バース (bāsu), 寝台 (ja) (しんだい, shindai)
• Latvian: koja (lv) f
• Norwegian: køye (no)
• Polish: koja (pl) f, kuszetka (pl) f
• Portuguese: camarote (pt)
• Russian: по́лка (ru) f (pólka), ко́йка (ru) f (kójka), спа́льное ме́сто n (spálʹnoje mésto), ме́сто (ru) n (mésto)
• Spanish: camarote (es) m
• Swedish: koj (sv), slaf, sovplats

maneuvering room

• Finnish: pelivara

• French: marge de manœuvre (fr) f

space to moor

• Bulgarian: корабно място (korabno mjasto)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 泊位 (zh) (bówèi)

• Dutch: ligplaats (nl) f
• Finnish: venepaikka, laituripaikka (for vessel); pysäköintiruutu (for car)

• German: Landungsplatz (de) m, Ladeplatz m, Liegeplatz m
• Italian: attracco (it) m
• Portuguese: vaga (pt)
• Russian: я́корное ме́сто n (jákornoje mésto), ме́сто (ru) n (mésto) (у прича́ла), прича́л (ru) m (pričál)
• Spanish: amarra (es) f

position on a ship

• Bulgarian: длъжност (bg) (dlǎžnost)

• Russian: до́лжность (ru) f (dólžnostʹ), ме́сто (ru) n (mésto)

position in a tournament

• Russian: ме́сто (ru) n (mésto)

sports: position in the field

• Finnish: pelipaikka (fi), paikka (fi)

Verb

berth (third-person singular simple present berths, present participle berthing, simple past and past participle berthed)

1. (transitive) to bring (a ship or vehicle) into its berth
2. (transitive) to assign a berth (bunk or position) to

Translations

to bring a ship into berth

• Bulgarian: закотвям (zakotvjam), акостирам (bg) (akostiram)
• Dutch: aanmeren (nl), aanleggen (nl)
• Finnish: rantautua (fi), kiinnittyä
• German: anlegen (de)

• Italian: attraccare (it)
• Portuguese: atracar (pt)
• Russian: прича́ливать (ru) impf (pričálivatʹ), прича́лить (ru) pf (pričálitʹ)
• Spanish: atraque (es), atracar (es)

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Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *berθ, from Proto-Celtic *berxtos.

Adjective

berth (feminine singular berth, plural berth, equative berthed, comparative berthach, superlative berthaf)

1. fair, fine, beautiful

Derived terms

• anferth (“colossal, gargantuan”)
• prydferth (“beautiful, handsome”)

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
berth	ferth	merth	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.