Briar

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /bɹaɪə/

Definitions

1. A prickly shrub known for its tough stems and often bearing flowers or berries, as well as a type of pipe crafted from its root material
2. A woody, thorny plant characterized by its sharp branches and potential floral or fruity output, also referring to a smoking pipe made from its root
3. A woody plant with sharp, prickly branches often producing flowers or berries ; a pipe crafted from the root burl of this plant for smoking purposes

Etymology: The pipe and the plant share a name for a surprising reason: the pipe is named after the French word for heather. French "bruyère" gave English "briar" in the pipe sense, and that borrowing was then folded into the older English word for the thorny shrub, so the two senses now sit under one spelling even though they came from different roots. The plant name is older and rooted in Old English "brēr" (also recorded as "brǣr"), meaning briar or bramble, which reached modern English as Middle English "brere." Its ultimate origin is unknown, though it may be related to French "bruyère," and it has cousins in Old Norse "brǫrr" and modern Icelandic "brörr," which also mean briar. So the thorny plant is native English stock, while the smoking pipe is a French loan that happened to land on the same sound.

Synonyms: thorn, bramble, thornbush