Word.ws English Dictionary

whimberry

Syllables: whim·ber·ry/ˈʍɪmbəɹi//ˈʍɪmˌbɛɹi/

whimberry noun: the bilberry or whortleberry (Vaccinium myrtillus).

whimberry: the bilberry or whortleberry (Vaccinium myrtillus)
Image: Lydur Skulason from Iceland, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

whimberry (plural whimberries)

  1. (UK, dialectal) The bilberry or whortleberry (Vaccinium myrtillus).
    • Another variable species: when fed upon whimberry or cowberry it is a most distinct-looking insect, often with the white patches placed in a triangle, one on the disk, one on the hind margin, and the usual one: no band.1871, C. S. Gregson, “Varieties and Aberrations of Lepidoptera”, in Edward Newman, editor, The Entomologist, volume V, London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., page 75
    • The lovely pink bloom of the whimberry stalk drops on the turf as the inner part knits itself into hard, green, beady fruit, whilst the leafage changes from a soft green to yellowish brown.1900, Helen Brierley, Morgan Brierley, a Memoir: With a Selection from His Writings, Rochdale: James Clegg, page 260

Forms of whimberry

pluralwhimberries
alternative formwhinberry
alternative formwimberry
alternative formwinberry
alternative formwindberry

Origin of whimberry

From earlier winberry, a variant of wineberry with regular shortening of the first vowel before a consonant cluster (in wineberry this was prevented or reversed due to analogy). Wineberry is derived from Middle English winberie, wineberie (“grape; type of berry”), from Old English wīnberġe, wīnberie (“grape”, literally “wine-berry”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīnabaʀi, from Proto-Germanic *wīnabasją (“grape; wineberry”), from *wīną (“wine”) (from Latin vīnum (“wine”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁y- (“to twist, wind; etc.”), referring to the vine) + *bazją (“berry”) (further etymology unknown). The assimilation of /nb/ to /mb/ seen in some forms is to be expected (compare hemp from Old English henep). Other forms show the influence of unrelated words; the consonantism of forms with initial wh- is probably due to the influence of whin (“furze, gorse (Ulex europaeus); similar prickly plant”), while windberry clearly represents remodelling as wind + berry.

Questions about whimberry

What does whimberry mean?
Whimberry means the bilberry or whortleberry (Vaccinium myrtillus).
What part of speech is whimberry?
Whimberry is a noun.
How do you pronounce whimberry?
Whimberry is pronounced /ˈʍɪmbəɹi/ (UK).
What is the plural of whimberry?
The plural of whimberry is whimberries.

Words near whimberry in the dictionary

  1. WHIM syndrome
  2. whim-wham
  3. whim-wham for a goose's bridle
  4. whim-whams
  5. whimberries
  6. whimberry
  7. whimble
  8. whimbles
  9. whimbrel
  10. whimbrels
  11. whimling

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: whimberry (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-whimberry.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-whimberry.wav.

Cite this entry: “whimberry.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whimberry. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.