burd

From Middle English berde (“woman, lady, young lady”), possibly from Old English byrde, ġebyrde (“of noble birth”), from byrd, ġebyrd (“birth”), or from an unattested *byrde (“embroideress”). Possibly the origin of the English slang bird for a young woman.

burd (plural burds)

1. (dialectal, obsolete) maiden, young woman
   • 1890, Joseph Jacobs, “Childe Rowland”, in English Fairy Tales, page 122:

     The hall was furnished in a manner equally grand, and at one end of it was a glorious couch of velvet, silk and gold, and there sate Burd Ellen, combing her golden hair with a silver comb.

• BrdU, brud, drub

burd

1. alternative form of bord (“board”)

burd

1. (Late Middle English) alternative form of brid (“bird”)

• IPA^(key): /ˈburt/
• Rhymes: -urt
• Syllabification: burd
• Homophone: burt

burd f

1. genitive plural of burda

• brud

From Old Frisian berd, from Proto-Germanic *bardaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰeh₂.

• IPA^(key): /bøt/

burd n (plural burden, diminutive burdsje)

1. beard

• “burd (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011