beche-de-mer. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

bêche-de-mer

PRONUNCIATION:	bshd-mâr
NOUN:	Inflected forms: pl. bêches-de-mer ( bshd-mâr) See trepang.
ETYMOLOGY:	French, alteration (influenced by bêche, grub) of biche-de-mer, from Portuguese bicho do mar : bicho, worm (from Late Latin bstulus, diminutive of Latin bstia, beast) + do, of the + mar, sea (from Latin mare; see mori- in Appendix I).


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.