barley

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a grain of barley

2. 2
   noun

   cultivated since prehistoric times

3. 3
   noun

   A cereal of the species Hordeum vulgare, or its grains, often used as food or to make beer and other malted drinks.

4. 4
   noun

   The seed of Job's tears. (Coix lacryma-jobi)

5. 5
   name

   A village in Hertfordshire, England.

6. 6
   name

   A village in Lancashire, England.

7. 7
   name

   A surname.

Etymology

* The village in Hertfordshire is from "Beora's ley," from *Beora + -ley (“clearing, lea”). The former is a personal name from Old English bera (“bear”). * The village in Lancashire is from Old English bar (“boar”) or bere (“barley”) + leah (“clearing”). * As an English surname, from the noun barley. As a south German surname, spelling variant of Behrle, Beerli, themselves related to the noun bear.