Added 7 October 2026

berth

/bɜːθ/ noun

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about berth at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Chiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space in the water for a ship or other vessel to lie at anchor or manoeuvre without getting in the way of other vessels, or colliding into rocks or the shore. A place for a vessel to lie at anchor or to moor. A room in a vessel in which the officers or company mess (“eat together”) and reside; also, a room or other place in a vessel for storage. A place on a vessel to sleep, especially a bed on the side of a cabin. A job or position on a vessel.
A place for a vessel to lie at anchor or to moor.
A room in a vessel in which the officers or company mess (“eat together”) and reside; also, a room or other place in a vessel for storage.

: To bring (a ship or other vessel) into a berth (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.1); also, to provide a berth for (a vessel).
To bring (a ship or other vessel) into a berth (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.1); also, to provide a berth for (a vessel).
To use a device to bring (a spacecraft) into its berth or dock.

The noun is derived from Late Middle English birth (“(nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth”). Further etymology uncertain, but probably from beren (“to carry (away), bear”) + -th (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc., forming nouns); if so, the English word is analysable as bear + -th (suffix forming nouns from verbs), and is a piecewise doublet of birth. The verb is derived from the noun.