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beech tree

beech tree

1 3.0
A large tree with smooth grey bark and small nuts inside a prickly cover
  • noun
  • /biːtʃ triː/
translation icon : haya
  • Soon enough, a doe wandered between two beech trees.
  • copper beech tree
  • huge beech tree
  • old beech tree

Examples

  • Almost at once, she smiled; she'd spotted the singer, a rose-breasted grosbeak, high in a tossing beech tree full of flowers.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • At last he pulled off the road and stopped the horses in a small glade that was hidden from the road by a stand of graceful beech trees.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • That huge tree that is dwarfing our house is a European beech tree.

    Blog text (11)
  • Maggie told the gardener to bury the puppy under the beech tree.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • They halted at last, where several other wolves sat on their haunches at the foot of a tall beech tree.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • There was a courtyard behind the house with an empty fountain, and huge beech trees ringed a slate-roofed gazebo.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • Oak trees transformed into orange torches, the maples turned blood-red, and the beech trees became yellow, then as now.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • The three streets intersecting at its core were lined with beech trees, wood benches, and storefronts that were as inviting in winter white as they were now in May.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • The children climbed the thick branches of the old beech tree in the park.

  • In the autumn, the leaves of the beech tree turn a vibrant golden color.

Synonyms

beech
vsbeech tree
5 4.3

A large tree with smooth grey bark and small nuts you can eat

is the two-word form making the species explicit
American beech
vsbeech tree
  • Specialized
4.9

A North American tree that loses its leaves in autumn, with smooth gray bark and edible nuts

is the broad Northern Hemisphere tree covering multiple species
European beech
vsbeech tree
6.1

A large tree that loses its leaves in winter with smooth gray bark and small toothed leaves

is the general Northern Hemisphere tree not limited to Europe
Fagus sylvatica
vsbeech tree
  • Specialized
9.9

A large European tree often planted in parks with smooth gray bark and leaves with small teeth

is the common regional tree term rather than the Latin label
common beech
vsbeech tree
4.2

A large European tree with smooth grey bark and bright autumn leaves that people plant for shade in parks

is the general Northern Hemisphere tree not only the cultivated form
Fagus americana
vsbeech tree
  • Specialized
9.9

A North American tree with light green leaves and nuts you can eat

is the broad Northern Hemisphere tree covering many species
Fagus grandifolia
vsbeech tree
  • Specialized
8.1

A beech tree from eastern North America with smooth bark and nuts people and animals eat

is the broad tree term for the whole temperate Northern region
red beech
vsbeech tree
  • US
8.2

A North American tree with light green leaves and edible nuts

is the general Northern Hemisphere tree category rather than one variety
white beech
vsbeech tree
  • US
7.4

A North American forest tree with light green leaves and edible nuts

is the overall Northern Hemisphere species group not a single type
Japanese beech
vsbeech tree
7.2

A tree from Japan with soft, light yellow-brown wood

is the general Northern Hemisphere tree category focusing on nuts and bark

How Big

beech tree
1 3.0
treelet
6.8
sapling
16 2.7
seedling
20 2.8

Surface Forms

beech tree singular
beech trees plural

Morphology

beech + tree

The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'beech' (a specific type of tree) with 'tree' (a tall perennial plant); it is a straightforward species name with no idiomatic or metaphorical shift. Such noun+noun compounding for species is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will understand the MWE.

Etymology

Beech tree is a plain name that joins beech (the tree that makes small edible nuts) and tree, so it gives a clear picture of the plant. That's why it simply means 'a tree of that kind'.