beaker

UK: /ˈbiːkə^r/ US: /ˈbikɚ/ ,(bē′kər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

beak•er /ˈbikɚ/   n. [countable]

1. Ceramics a large drinking cup or glass with a wide mouth.
2. Chemistry a cuplike container, esp. one used in a laboratory.
3. the contents of a beaker.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

beak•er  (bē′kər), n. 

1. Ceramics a large drinking cup or glass with a wide mouth.
2. contents of a beaker:
   consuming a beaker of beer at one gulp.
3. a flat-bottomed cylindrical container, usually with a pouring lip, esp. one used in a laboratory.

adj. 

4. Archaeology (cap.) of or pertaining to the Beaker folk.

• Latin *bic(c)arium, -ius, of disputed origin, originally See pitcher¹
• Old Saxon bikeri (compare Old High German bechari, German Becher, Dutch beker)
• Old Norse bikarr
• alteration of Middle English biker 1300–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

beaker / ˈbiːkə/ noun

1. a cup usually having a wide mouth
2. a cylindrical flat-bottomed container used in laboratories, usually made of glass and having a pouring lip

Etymology: 14th Century: from Old Norse bikarr; related to Old High German behhāri, Middle Dutch bēker beaker, Greek bikos earthenware jug