beak: [13] English acquired beak via Old French bec from Latin beccus, which was probably borrowed from some Gaulish word (the original Latin word for ‘beak’ was rostrum). The Roman historian Suetonius (c. 69–140 AD) tells of one Antonius Primus, a native of Toulouse, who was nicknamed as a boy Beccus, ‘that is, hen’s beak’. The Old English term for ‘beak’ was bile ‘bill’. => soubriquet[beak etymology, beak origin, 英语词源]