NYT Dictionary

BEACH

/biːt͡ʃ/
NounVerbBEACHbeach · 1 syllableGrade 3

Accepted in official NYT Spelling Bee puzzle years: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

Meaning

The shore of a body of water, especially when sandy or pebbly.

Etymology

Origin: Old English

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der. Proto-Germanic *bakiz Proto-West Germanic *baki Old English bæċ Middle English bache English beach From Middle English bache, bæcche (“bank, sandbank”), from Old English beċe (“beck, brook, stream”), from Proto-West Germanic *baki, from Proto-Germanic *bakiz (“brook”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“flowing water”). Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian pach (“brook, creek, stream”), Dutch beek (“brook, stream”), German Bach (“brook, stream”), German Low German Beek (“brook, stream”), Luxembourgish Baach (“brook, stream”), Mòcheno pòch (“brook, creek, stream”), Vilamovian bāh, baoch (“brook, stream”), Danish bæk (“brook”), Icelandic bekkur (“creek, spring, stream”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk bekk (“brook, creek, stream”), Swedish bäck (“brook, creek, stream”); also Lithuanian banga (“billow, wave”). More at batch, beck.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

backshoresandstrandgravel trapbankbermcareencoastcoastlandcoastline

NYT Puzzle Appearances

Accepted in 3 recorded puzzles:

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