Meaning

noun beaklike mouth of animals other than birds (e.g., turtles)

noun horny projecting mouth of a bird

noun a beaklike, tapering tip on certain plant structures

originFrom Middle English bec, borrowed from Anglo-Norman bec, Old French bec, from Latin beccus, from Gaulish *bekkos, from Proto-Celtic *bekkos (“beak, snout”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“pointed stick, peg”). Cognate with Breton beg (“beak”). Compare Saterland Frisian Bäk (“mouth; muzzle; beak”); Dutch bek (“beak; bill; neb”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0