English word origin

Etymology of barm

From Middle English barm, barme, berm, bearm, from Old English bearm (“lap; bosom”), from Proto-West Germanic *barm, from Proto-Germanic *barmaz (“lap; bosom”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear”). Cognate with G

3 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗

In this entry · 3 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗

noun

bosom · lap

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inherited-form mentionbarmenm
Inherited-form mentionbearmang · lap; bosom
Inherited-form mention*barmgmw-pro
Inherited-form mention*barmazgem-pro · lap; bosom
Derivation mention*bʰer-ine-pro · to bear
Cognate mentionBarmde · lap; bosom

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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        "3": "barm"
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      "expansion": "Middle English barm"
    },
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    },
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      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
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        "2": "Barm",
        "t": "lap; bosom"
      },
      "expansion": "German Barm (“lap; bosom”)"
    }
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      "berm#Middle_English"
    ],
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      "bearm#Middle_English"
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    ],
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    ],
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    ]
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Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗

noun

Foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, used as leaven in brewing and making bread; yeast. · A small, round, flat individual loaf or roll of bread.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English berme, berm, from Old English beorma, from Proto-West Germanic *bermō (“yeast; barm”); related to the dialectal Low German Bärm (“yeast”), from Middle Low German barm, berm. The cake sense is possibly a shortened form of barmcake, which would be made with yeast as described in that sense, or possibly it is from the Irish bairín breac, a type of bread.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inherited-form mentionbermeenm
Inherited-form mentionbeormaang
Inherited-form mention*bermōgmw-pro · yeast; barm
Cognate mentionBärmnds · yeast
Cognate mentionbarm, bermgml
Derivation mentionbairín breacga

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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        "1": "gml",
        "2": "barm, berm"
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      "expansion": "Middle Low German barm, berm"
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    ],
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      "berm#Middle_Low_German"
    ],
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    ],
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    ]
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Source etymology 3

Original entry ↗

verb

To spurge; foam

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English bermen, from the noun (see above).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inherited-form mentionbermenenm

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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        "3": "bermen"
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    [
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    ]
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Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

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Contribute located evidence for barm →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger

Machine-source provenance

Source SHA-256: 5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run: 73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID: w-YmFybQ