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Blackberry

nounA dark purple-black edible fruit that grows on a thorny bramble, or the bush itself.

How to spell blackberry

blackberry

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce blackberry

American pronunciation
BLAK-berr-ee
/ˈblækˌbɛri/

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What does blackberry mean?

  1. nounA dark purple-black edible fruit that grows on a thorny bramble, or the bush itself.

Blackberry in a sentence

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Where does blackberry come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent compound of two very old native English words, 'black' and 'berry', and it has been used since before the year 1000. 'Black' descends from the Old English 'blæc', meaning dark or ink-coloured, while 'berry' comes from the Old English 'berie', a general word for a small, round, juicy fruit. Put together, the name simply describes the dark, almost black fruit of the bramble bush. The form has stayed remarkably stable through the centuries, with the chief spelling point being the doubled 'r' that 'berry' contributes. The same 'berry' element joins many cousins in English, including strawberry, raspberry and gooseberry, all built on exactly the same pattern.

How the word is built

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