The word appears in numerous mountain names throughout the Carpathians and the adjacent Balkan regions, like in Albanian bjeshkë.
According to linguists Çabej and Orel, it is possibly derived from Proto-Albanian *beškāi tāi (meaning 'the mountain pastures').
In the west they begin at the natural pass of the Moravian Gate, which separates them from the Eastern Sudetes, continue east in a band to the north of the Tatra Mountains, and end in Ukraine.
A number of environmental groups support a small but growing population of bears, wolves and lynx in the ecosystem of the Beskidy mountains.
The Central Beskids include the Polish Babia Góra National Park and the adjacent Slovak Horná Orava Protected Landscape Area.