barleycorns
Cereal plant seeds
Barleycorns are grains of barley.
Historically, the barleycorn served as a unit of length—one-third of an inch—supposedly based on the length of a grain.
This measurement survives in shoe sizing, where each size differs by one barleycorn.
Three barleycorns make an inch.
Processed grain for breakfast
- kernelSeed or essential core
- huskDry seed covering
- maltSprouted grain for brewing
- brewingBeverage preparation process
beer · whisky · seed · harvest · chaff · threshing · granary · crop
Individual part or measure
- lengthMeasure of extent
- inchTwelfth of a foot
- thirdPosition number three
- Anglo-SaxonPre-Conquest British Germanic peoples
medieval · shoe size · calibration · standardization · historical · traditional · archaic · gradation
cereal
Processed grain for breakfast
brewing · beer · whisky · seed · harvest · chaff · threshing · granary · crop · flour
unit
Individual part or measure
Anglo-Saxon · medieval · shoe size · calibration · standardization · historical · traditional · archaic · gradation · scale
personification
Attributing humanity to non-humans
rebirth · ritual · sacrifice · folk song · Robert Burns · ale · malt · threshing · winnowing · agricultural