any member of the plant family Fagaceae, characterized by trees and shrubs having alternate, usually toothed or lobed leaves, male flowers in catkins and female flowers either solitary or in clusters and bearing a nut enclosed in a cupule or bur, including the beeches, chestnuts, and oaks.
Origin: bef. 900; ME beche, OE bēce < Gmc *bōkjōn-; akin to OS, MLG boke, D beuk, OHG buohha (G Buche), ON bōk, L fāgus beech, Doric Gk phāgós, Albanian bung oak (appar. not akin to book)
A deciduous tree of the genus Fagus having smooth gray bark, alternate simple leaves, and three-angled nuts enclosed in prickly burs. The best-known species are F. grandifolia of eastern North America and the European species F. sylvatica and its numerous cultivated forms.
The wood of any of these trees, used for flooring, containers, plywood, and tool handles.
Any of several other woody plants, as in the genera Carpinus and Nothofagus.
[Middle English beche, from Old English bēce; see bhāgo- in Indo-European roots.]
[beech] 
