The loud, sharp sound a dog makes; or to speak loudly and harshly; also the outer covering of a tree.
The dog sound comes from Old English and is imitative. The tree bark comes from Old Norse 'borkr,' related to birch trees. The sharp speech meaning evolved from the sound itself.
Dogs bark in different regional 'accents'—English dogs go 'woof,' Japanese dogs say 'wan wan,' and French dogs say 'oua oua,' which proves that even animal sounds are shaped by language and culture!
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