orchard

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A garden or an area of land for the cultivation of fruit or nut trees.

   […]belts of thin white mist streaked the brown plough land in the hollow where Appleby could see the pale shine of a winding river. Across that in turn, meadow and coppice rolled away past the white walls of a village bowered in orchards,[…]

2. 2
   noun

   garden consisting of a small cultivated wood without undergrowth

3. 3
   noun

   The trees themselves cultivated in such an area.

4. 4
   name

   A topographic surname.

Etymology

From Middle English orchard, orcherd, from Old English orċeard, ortġeard, a compound of *ort (probably from Proto-Germanic *urtiz, a dissimilated variant of Proto-Germanic *wurt- (“wort (plant)”), later incorrectly associated with unrelated Latin hortus (“garden”)) + ġeard (see hortyard and yard, which ironically is etymologically linked with hortus). Cognate with Swedish örtagård (“herb garden”), Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐌹𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐍃 (aurtigards, “orchard”), Old High German orzōn (“to cultivate a field”). Equivalent to wort + yard. More at root.