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Harm vs Barm - What's the difference?

harm | barm |

As a proper noun harm

is , low german, derived from herman, meaning "army man".

As a noun barm is

(obsolete except in dialects) bosom, lap or barm can be foam rising upon beer, or other malt liquors, when fermenting, and used as leaven in making bread and in brewing; yeast.

harm

English

(wikipedia harm)

Noun

(en noun)
  • Injury; hurt; damage; detriment; misfortune.
  • * , chapter=13
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.}}
  • That which causes injury, damage, or loss.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • We, ignorant of ourselves, / Beg often our own harms .

    Usage notes

    * Adjectives often applied to "harm": bodily, physical, environmental, emotional, financial, serious, irreparable, potential, long-term, short-term, permanent, lasting, material, substantial.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cause injury to another; to hurt; to cause damage to something.

    • Derived terms

    * do no harm * harmer * harmless * harm's way * self-harm * unharmed

    Anagrams

    * ----

    barm

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) bearm .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete except in dialects) Bosom, lap.
  • * Late 14th century': And with that word this faucon gan to crie / And swowned eft in Canacees '''barm . — Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Squire's Tale’, ''Canterbury Tales

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) beorma''; related to the dialectal (Low) German ''Bärm'' ("yeast"), from Middle Low German ''barm'', ''berm''. The cake sense is possibly a shortened form of barmcake, which would be made with yeast as described in that sense, or possibly it is from the (etyl) '' , a type of cake.

    Noun

  • Foam rising upon beer, or other malt liquors, when fermenting, and used as leaven in making bread and in brewing; yeast.
    • (Shakespeare)
  • * 1882 , James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England , Volume 4, p. 620:
    • In 1577 yeast, called barm , is bought at 9d. the pail.
  • * 1913 , DH Lawrence, Sons and Lovers , Penguin 2006, p. 65:
    • And he chaffed the women as he served them their ha'porths of barm .
  • A small, flat, round individual loaf or roll of bread.

    • See also

    * bap * bun * roll * muffin * barmy * barmpot ----