Old English berie "berry, grape," from Proto-Germanic *basjom (source also of Old Norse ber, Middle Dutch bere, German Beere "berry;" Old Saxon winberi, Gothic weinabasi "grape"), which is of unknown origin. This and apple are the only native fruit names.

Old English hwæte "wheat," from Proto-Germanic *hwaitjaz (source also of Old Saxon hweti, Old Norse hveiti, Norwegian kveite, Old Frisian hwete, Middle Dutch, Dutch weit, Old High German weizzi, German Weizen, Gothic hvaiteis "wheat"), literally "that which is white" (in reference to the grain or the meal), from PIE *kwoid-yo-, suffixed variant form of root *kweid-, *kweit- "to shine" (see white; and compare Welsh gwenith "wheat," related to gwenn "white"). The Old World grain was introduced into New Spain in 1528. Wheaties, the cereal brand name, was patented 1925.

name of flowering weeds that grow in wheat fields, Old English coccel "darnel," used in Middle English to translate the Bible word now usually given as tares (see tare (n.1)). It is in no other Germanic language and may be from a diminutive of Latin coccus "grain, berry." A Celtic origin also has been proposed.

"made of wheat," Old English hwæten; see wheat + -en (2).

"the berry of the dogwood tree," 1550s; see dogwood + berry.

also tea-berry, American wintergreen, 1818, from tea + berry; so called because the dried berries were used as a substitute for tea.

also blue-berry, in American English, the fruit of several species of Vaccinium, c. 1775, from blue (adj.1) + berry.

"Chinese wheat flour noodles" (in lo mein, chow mein, etc.), 1934, from Chinese, literally "wheat flour."

simple protein obtained from maize and wheat, 1822, from zea, Late Latin name for "spelt," from Greek zeia "one-seeded wheat, barley, corn" (from PIE root *yewo-) + -in (2).

early 14c., "a small, hard seed," especially of one of the cereal plants, also as a collective singular, "seed of wheat and allied grasses used as food;" also "something resembling grain; a hard particle of other substances" (salt, sand, later gunpowder, etc.), from Old French grain, grein (12c.) "seed, grain; particle, drop; berry; grain as a unit of weight," from Latin granum "seed, a grain, small kernel," from PIE root *gre-no- "grain." From late 14c. as "a species of cereal plant." In the U.S., where corn has a specialized sense, it is the general word (used of wheat, rye, oats, barley, etc.).

Figuratively, "the smallest possible quantity," from late 14c. From early 15c. in English as the smallest unit of weight (originally the weight of a plump, dry grain of wheat or barley from the middle of the ear). From late 14c as "roughness of surface; a roughness as of grains." In reference to wood, "quality due to the character or arrangement of its fibers," 1560s; hence, against the grain (1650), a metaphor from carpentry: cutting across the fibers of the wood is more difficult than cutting along them.

Earliest sense of the word in English was "scarlet dye made from insects" (early 13c.), a sense also in the Old French collateral form graine; see kermes for the evolution of this sense, which was frequent in Middle English; also compare engrain. In Middle English grain also could mean "seed of flowers; pip of an apple, grape, etc.; a berry, legume, nut." Grain alcohol attested by 1854.