A species of grain (genus polygonor), the flour of which is much used in the United States.
An etymology of this word has been suggested to me by a friend, which, as it is new, deserves mention. The Saxon for beech is boc, Dutch, bock. The mast or nut of the beech is of the same form and color as the grain of the buckwheat; hence we have the Dutch bock weyt, beech-wheat, and English buckwheat, or wheat resembling the buck or beech nut.