Garden, Yard and Orchard Come From the Same Enclosure
A garden is a cultivated plot. The word comes from a root meaning enclosure, which also gave English yard and girdle.
A garden is a piece of ground for growing plants. The defining idea is enclosure, not cultivation: the Germanic root behind *garden* also gives *yard*, *girdle*, *gird* and the *-gard* in Asgard. A garden is fundamentally a place fenced off, and what grows inside is secondary to the boundary around it.
- A cultivated plot. *A walled garden.*
- Public grounds. *Botanical gardens.*
- To tend a garden. *She gardens at weekends.*
- Lead up the garden path — to mislead. *Led up the garden path.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | garden | A cottage garden. |
| Plural | gardens | Public gardens. |
| Verb | garden | Garden all summer. |
| Person | gardener | A head gardener. |
| Related | yard | A back yard. |
How it is used in a sentence
- A walled garden keeps out the wind.And in computing, a closed platform.
- He led them up the garden path.Misled them.
- Everything in the garden is rosy.All is well.
Words from the enclosure root
- Garden — an enclosed cultivated plot
- Yard — an enclosed area by a building
- Girdle — something that encircles
- Gird — to encircle or prepare
- Orchard — from a compound meaning a garden of trees
From Old North French *gardin*, from a Frankish word related to Old English *geard*, an enclosure — the ancestor of *yard*.
Are garden and yard the same word?
They come from the same root. Yard is the native English form, garden the one that arrived through Norman French.
What is a walled garden in computing?
A closed platform where the provider controls what software and content can be used, by analogy with an enclosed garden.