beer

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An alcoholic drink made from grain, usually barley, often flavoured with hops.

   Beer is brewed all over the world.

2. 2
   noun

   A glass, bottle, or can of beer.

   I bought a few beers for the party.

3. 3
   noun

   A particular type or brand of beer.

   Pilsner is one of the most popular beers in Europe.

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Simplified etymology

Beer is traced from classical Latin bibere, meaning “to drink,” through biber, “a drink,” a form that developed in monasteries. It was borrowed by West Germanic peoples and became Old English bēor and then beer. Although beer occurs in Old English, it was not common before the 16th century; in earlier times, the usual word was ale.

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *beuzą Proto-West Germanic *beuʀ Old English bēor Middle English bere English beer From Middle English bere, from Old English bēor (“beer”) (Oxford OED notes: "rare, except in poetry"), from Proto-West Germanic *beuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *beuzą (“beer”) (putatively from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewsóm), meaning “brewer's yeast”. However, also see the "beer" entry on EtymOnline (q.v.), which links a connection to monastic Vulgar Latin *biber (“a drink, beverage”), from Latin bibere (“to drink”). Samuel Johnson in his famous 18th-century A Dictionary of the English Lan…

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