Bark and barque are two words that are pronounced in the same manner but are spelled differently and have different meanings, which makes them homophones. We will examine the definitions of the words bark and barque, where these words came from and some examples of their use in sentences.
Bark has several non-related meanings. First, bark may mean the explosive cry of an animal, most often a dog or seal. Bark may also be used figuratively to mean an explosive laugh or cough. Bark is used as a noun or a verb, related words are barks, barked, barking. This meaning of bark is most probably derived from the Old English word beorc, meaning to break. Bark may also mean the rough, protective outer covering of a tree or woody shrub. The verb form of bark may be used to mean to strip the rough, protective outer covering off of a tree or shrub. This meaning of bark is probably derived from the Old Norse word bǫrkr, which means birch tree. Sometimes bark is used to mean to scrape one’s shin, though this is not a common use of the word bark.
A barque is a three-masted sailing ship. Alternate spellings for this sailing ship are barc and bark. The word barque is a borrowed or loan word from the French. A borrowed or loan word is one that is taken from another language and used as an English word.
Examples
Mevani referred his call to defeat the BJP by citing the minister’s recent statement against Dalit activists who were staging a protest against his statements in Ballari district by calling them “barking stray dogs”. (The Times of India)
In Ganish, an old Silk Road stop high in the snowcapped mountains of northern Pakistan, Taihan is overseeing the exhumation of a valuable stash of fatty gold: ingots of cow and yak butter, packed inside casings of birch bark, that have been buried for years beneath paving stones of the village square. (National Geographic Magazine)
One of the more interesting shipwrecks in Southland was England’s Glory, an iron barque, which came ashore on the Bluff coast on November 7, 1881. (The Southland Times)