Haw
/hɔː/noun
A berry of the hawthorn tree, or the hawthorn tree itself.
Did you know?Haw is an old English word for the hawthorn berry/tree, and hawthorn itself became a major folk boundary tree in Europe, often treated as protective and even dangerous to cut.
Etymological Timeline
Old English
OE
haga
“hedge, enclosure, or hawthorn hedge”
Old English
OE
hægþorn
“hawthorn”
Middle English
ME
haw
“hawthorn berry or the hawthorn tree”
Modern English
English
haw
“the berry or fruit of the hawthorn”