"B" Word Origins

batten

Old Norse

The verb traces to Old Norse batna, "to grow better or recover"; the wood-strip noun is a related but separate sense that developed in English carpentry and shipbuilding.

batter

Middle English

From Middle English batteren, a repeated-action form of "bat" — literally "to keep hitting."

battered

Origin

From batter + -ed.

battering

Origin

From batter + -ing.

battery

Latin

From French batterie, "a beating," from Latin battuo, "to beat." Benjamin Franklin later borrowed the military "battery" (a row of guns) as the name for a connected row of electrical cells, and the name stuck.

battey

Origin

From Batte, a Middle English pet-form of Bartholomew.

batting

Origin

From bat + -ing; the stuffing-material sense comes from a related word "batt," meaning a sheet of fibrous material.

Battista

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Battista.

battle

Latin

From Old French bataille, ultimately from Latin battuo, "to beat or strike."

battlecruiser

Origin

Blend of battleship + cruiser, from being a cruiser-like ship with battleship-like capabilities and possibly operating in the battleline.

battlefield

Origin

From battle + field.

battlefront

Origin

From battle + front.

battleground

Origin

From battle + ground.

battlement

Origin

From Middle English batilment, from Old French bataillement, earlier bastillement (“fortification”), from bastillier (“to fortify, to equip with battlements”), from bastille (“fortress”) (see bastion). By surface analysis, battle + -ment.

battler

Origin

From Middle English batailloure, from Old French batailleor; equivalent to battle + -er.

battleship

Origin · 1700

Short for "line-of-battle ship," first recorded in the late 1700s; later shortened again to "battleship."

battlespace

Origin

From battle + space.

battlewagon

Origin

From battle + wagon.

battling

Origin

From battle (“to nourish, feed”).

batts

Origin

Variant of Bates, from the given name Bartholomew.

battue

Origin

From French battue, ultimately from Latin battere. Doublet of battuta, which arrived via Italian.

batty

Origin · 1900

From "bat" (the animal) plus "-y," popularised by the phrase "bats in one's belfry," describing bats flying erratically — first used to mean "insane" in the early 1900s.

battye

Origin

From Batte, a Middle English pet-form of Bartholomew.

Bau

German

Various origins: * Borrowed from German Bau, perhaps a short form of compounds with this element, such as Bauhofer or Baumann. * Borrowed from French Bau, perhaps a variant of Beau. * Variant of Bao, a surname of Chinese origin.

bauble

Latin

From Old French "baubel," meaning a child's toy or trinket, ultimately from Latin "bellus," meaning "pretty."

Bauer

German

From German "Bauer" ("farmer"), a common German and Jewish surname; related to the English word "bower."

Baum

German

From German baum, meaning "tree".

Baumann

German

Borrowed from German Baumann.

Bavaria

New Latin

From New Latin Bavaria, from Medieval Latin Baioaria, from Latin Boiuvarii (literally “Boii settlers”), a compound of a Gaulish word meaning “cattle owner” (from Proto-Celtic *bāus (“cow”)) + Proto-Germanic *warjaz (“settler”). Alternatively, Pokorny proposes that the first element is a word meaning “warrior”, derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyh₂- (“to hit, beat”). This name was adopted by the Marcomanni after defeating the Boii and settling Bohemia and parts of Bavaria.

bavarian

Origin

From "Bavaria" plus the suffix "-an," meaning "belonging to."

bavarois

Origin

Borrowed from French bavarois.

bawbag

Origin

Borrowed from Scots bawbag (“ballsack”). Doublet of ballbag.

bawdy

Origin

From an old word "bawd," meaning a person who ran a brothel, plus the suffix "-y."

bawl

Latin

From Middle English "baulen," related to Old Norse and Latin words for bellowing or roaring, ultimately imitating the sound itself.

Baxter

Old English

From Old English "bæcestre" ("female baker"), from "bake" plus the feminine suffix "-ster"; it later became a common surname.

bay

Late Latin

From Old French "baie," from Late Latin "baia," possibly from an Iberian or Basque word for an inlet of the sea.

bayard

Old French

From Old French bayart, of uncertain origin, related to "bay" describing a reddish-brown horse colour.

bayer

Origin

Borrowed from German Bayer. The surname is converged from both Bavaria and Middle High German beieren (“to ring a bell”).

bayless

Origin

From bay + -less.

Bayliss

Old French

From Old French bailis, inflection of bailif (“bailiff, officer in a court of law”).

Bayon

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish Bayón.

bayonet

French

From French "baïonnette," named after Bayonne, the French town where the weapon is said to have first been made.

Bayonne

French

Borrowed from French Bayonne. The first element of the name is variously said to be Basque or Latin; the second element is Basque on (“good”). More at Bayonne. Also compare Latin baia.

bayou

French

From Louisiana French "bayou," borrowed from the Choctaw word "bayuk," meaning a small stream.

bays

Origin

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

bayside

Origin

From bay + side.

baz

Persian

Two main origins: * Borrowed from Persian باز (bâz, “falcon”). * Borrowed from Spanish Baz.

bazaar

Italian

From Persian "bâzâr," passed into English through Ottoman Turkish and Italian.