'bark' (ship sense) originates from French, specifically the word 'barque,' where the Latin 'barca' meant 'small boat.' 'Bark' (tree covering) originates from Proto-Germanic, specifically the word 'barkaz,' where the root meant 'outer layer.' The sound sense 'bark' is imitative in origin.

'bark' (ship) changed from Old French 'barque' and Middle English forms such as 'barc' and eventually became the modern English 'bark.' 'Bark' (tree covering) evolved from Proto-Germanic 'barkaz' into Old English forms and then to modern English 'bark.' The sound sense is recorded as an imitative word in Old English and continued into Middle and Modern English.

Initially, the word was used for a 'small boat' in the Romance borrowing and for the 'outer layer' in the Germanic root, while the sound sense began as an onomatopoeic term; over time the tree and sound senses remained stable in meaning, while the ship sense became less common or specialized.