berk

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

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

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)k
• Homophone: birk

berk (plural berks)

1. (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, derogatory, vulgar) 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.

Although the term remains in fairly wide use, its specific origin and meaning in rhyming slang is less well known, lessening its vulgarity.

• See fool and idiot

• Belvoir (pronounced Beaver)

• "berk" in Chambers Dictionary
• "berk" in Jonathon Green's Cassell's Dictionary of Slang →ISBN
• “berk n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

• brek, kerb

From berr (cf. derk from derr).

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

1. goat

• berr

From Proto-Albanian *bardz(i)ka, from *bardza > bardhë (“white”). Similar sense development as in barmë.^[1]

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

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

• barmë

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

• IPA^(key): /bɛrk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: berk
• Rhymes: -ɛrk

berk m (plural berken, diminutive berkje n)

1. birch, tree of the genus Betula

   Synonym: berkenboom

• berkenboom
• berkenroede
• berkhaan
• berkhoen

• Afrikaans: berk

• IPA^(key): /bɛʁk/

• Audio:

  (file)

berk

1. Alternative form of beurk: yuck!

berk

1. (bragarmál) Contraction of ber ek.

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

berk

1. strong, hard, robust, violent

   Synonyms: sert, katı

2. heroic
3. firm, solid

   Synonym: sağlam

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “berk1”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “برك”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[2], 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”

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

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

1. lightning

Inflection
Nominative	berk
Definite accusative	berki
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	berk	berkler
Definite accusative	berki	berkleri
Dative	berke	berklere
Locative	berkte	berklerde
Ablative	berkten	berklerden
Genitive	berkin	berklerin
Possessive forms Nominative Singular Plural 1st singular berkim berklerim 2nd singular berkin berklerin 3rd singular berki berkleri 1st plural berkimiz berklerimiz 2nd plural berkiniz berkleriniz 3rd plural berkleri berkleri Definite accusative Singular Plural 1st singular berkimi berklerimi 2nd singular berkini berklerini 3rd singular berkini berklerini 1st plural berkimizi berklerimizi 2nd plural berkinizi berklerinizi 3rd plural berklerini berklerini Dative Singular Plural 1st singular berkime berklerime 2nd singular berkine berklerine 3rd singular berkine berklerine 1st plural berkimize berklerimize 2nd plural berkinize berklerinize 3rd plural berklerine berklerine Locative Singular Plural 1st singular berkimde berklerimde 2nd singular berkinde berklerinde 3rd singular berkinde berklerinde 1st plural berkimizde berklerimizde 2nd plural berkinizde berklerinizde 3rd plural berklerinde berklerinde Ablative Singular Plural 1st singular berkimden berklerimden 2nd singular berkinden berklerinden 3rd singular berkinden berklerinden 1st plural berkimizden berklerimizden 2nd plural berkinizden berklerinizden 3rd plural berklerinden berklerinden Genitive Singular Plural 1st singular berkimin berklerimin 2nd singular berkinin berklerinin 3rd singular berkinin berklerinin 1st plural berkimizin berklerimizin 2nd plural berkinizin berklerinizin 3rd plural berklerinin berklerinin

• 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