Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
trepang ,sea cucumber
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[French, alteration (influenced by bêche, grub) of biche-de-mer, from Portuguese bicho do mar : bicho, worm (from Late Latin bēstulus, diminutive of Latin bēstia, beast) + do, of the + mar, sea (from Latin mare; see mori- in Indo-European roots).]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
French
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Examples
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chained_bear commented on the word bêche-de-mer
"Annette, who followed her in, found the thing like a giant bêche-de-mer inside the bowl. It lay there, dull and malevolent, a parasite expelled, abandoned on the porcelain shores of Craig's Hotel."
—Peter Carey, Illywhacker, 153–154
April 16, 2009
solitude_stands commented on the word bêche-de-mer
"The dream of Terra Australis Incognita, with its imagined hoard of silk, spices, and gold, was gone, but the Pacific offered a broad range of exploitable products: fur seals, sandalwood, flax, timber, pearl and turtle shell, bêche-de-mer, and, of course, that most lucrative and alluring of all the ocean's resources: whales."
- Sea People by Christina Thompson, p 116
January 4, 2026