"B" Word Origins

Bianchi

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Bianchi.

biannual

Latin

From the Latin prefix bi- ('two') and annus ('year'), giving annual.

bias

Middle French · 1520

From Middle French biais, "sideways" or "at a slant," first used in English around 1520 for an oblique line, then borrowed into the game of bowls for a ball's curving path — which gave us the figurative "leaning" sense.

biased

Origin

Formed from "bias" plus the "-ed" ending.

biathlon

Origin

PIE word *dwóh₁ From bi- (prefix meaning ‘two; both’) + -athlon (suffix meaning ‘contest’), modelled after pentathlon.

bib

Latin

The verb "bib," meaning to drink heartily, came first — probably from Latin bibo, "to drink." The cloth-garment sense likely followed because a bib is worn while drinking and eating, or because it "drinks up" spills.

bibacious

Origin

From Latin bibāx, bibācis, ultimately from bibō + -acious. See bib.

bibber

Origin

From bib (“drink heartily”) + -er (agent noun suffix); see bib (“clothing to prevent spills from mouth”). Bib is from Middle English bibben. First attested in the 1530s.

bibbey

Origin

From a Middle English diminutive of the given name Isabel.

bibble

Origin

From Middle English bibben (whence bib; see there for more) + -le.

bibby

Origin

From a Middle English diminutive of the given name Isabel.

bibi

Persian

From Hindi बीबी (bībī), ultimately from Classical Persian بیبی (bī-bī).

bibiji

Origin

From bibi + -ji.

Bible

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin biblia, "book," itself from Greek biblia, "books" — the plural of biblion, "little book," ultimately from byblos, "papyrus," named after the Phoenician city of Byblos that exported the writing material.

biblical

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin biblicus, "of the Bible," plus the adjective ending "-al."

bibliography

Greek

From Greek biblion, meaning book, and graphia, meaning writing, via French bibliographie.

bibliophile

Origin

First attested in 1820. From biblio- + -phile (from Ancient Greek βιβλίον (biblíon, “paper, document, tablet”) + φίλος (phílos, “beloved”)), probably after French bibliophile.

bibulous

Origin

From Latin bibulus from bibō (“drink”) + -ulus from Proto-Italic *pibō, from Proto-Indo-European *píph₃eti, from root *peh₃- (“drink”); whence also imbibe and beverage via Old French beivre.

Bic

French

From the French brand name Bic, which became generic for the cheap disposable pens and lighters it makes.

bicarb

Origin

A clipped form of "bicarbonate."

bice

Origin

From French bis, akin to Italian bigio (“light gray, tawny”). Doublet of beige.

bicep

Latin

A back-formation from "biceps" — in Latin, biceps is already singular ("two-headed"), but English speakers reinterpreted the final "-s" as a plural marker and invented "bicep" as the singular.

biceps

Latin

From Latin biceps, "two-headed," from bis ("twice") plus caput ("head") — so named because the muscle has two points of attachment, or "heads," at the shoulder.

bicipital

Origin

From Latin biceps (“double-headed”).

bicker

Middle English

From Middle English bikeren, "to attack," traced back through Middle Dutch bicken, "to stab or thrust," to a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to smash or break" — a much more violent origin than today's meaning of petty squabbling.

bicycle

French · 1847

Borrowed from French bicycle, from "bi-" ("two") plus "cycle" ("wheel," from Greek kuklos). First recorded in French in 1847 and in English by 1868.

BID

Old English

Merges two old English verbs — one meaning "to command or ask" (as in "bid you welcome") and one meaning "to offer a price" — which is why "bid" today covers both greeting/commanding and auction senses.

bidder

Middle English

From Middle English bidder, formed from "bid" plus the agent suffix "-er."

biddy

Irish

Originally a diminutive of the name Bridget, which became a generic nickname for Irish maidservants in the United States, and later shifted to mean any old woman.

bide

Old English

From Old English bidan, "to wait, remain, or endure," from a Proto-Germanic root shared with words for "wait" across many Germanic languages, and distantly related to "faith" and "fidelity" through a common Indo-European root.

Biden

Old French

Ultimately from Old French bouton, "button," an occupational surname for a button-maker.

bidet

French

Borrowed from French bidet, which originally meant a small pony — the fixture was named for the way a person straddles it much like sitting on a small horse.

biding

Origin

From "bide" plus "-ing."

Bieber

German

From an old form of German Biber, "beaver."

bield

Origin

From Middle English belde, beeld, beld, from Old English bieldu (“courage, boldness”), from Proto-Germanic *balþį̄ (“boldness”), from *balþaz (“bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to inflate, swell”). Cognate with Old High German baldī (“boldness, courage”) (Middle High German belde), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹 (balþei, “boldness, courage”). More at bold.

biennial

Latin

From Latin biennium, a period of two years, from bi- meaning two and annus meaning year.

bier

Old English

From Old English ber, "stretcher" or "bier," from a Germanic root meaning "to carry"— the same root that gave English the verb "bear."

biff

Origin

An imitative, or onomatopoeic, word meant to sound like the noise of a punch landing.

bifurcate

Origin

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin bifurcātus. Surface Analysis bi- + furcate.

bifurcation

Latin

From Latin bifurcus, meaning two-pronged, from bi- meaning two and furca meaning fork.

big

Middle English

From Northern Middle English big or bigge, "powerful, strong," possibly from a dialect of Old Norse, ultimately traced to a Germanic root meaning "to swell" — the same root behind words like "bug" and "bugbear."

bigamous

Origin

bi- + -gamous

bigamy

Late Latin

From Late Latin bigamia, formed from Latin bis ("twice") plus Greek gamos ("marriage") — literally "double marriage." The word entered English through Anglo-Norman and Middle French.

Bigelow

Middle English

A habitational surname from a place in Cheshire, from Middle English words for "big" and "mound, hill."

bigender

English

Formed from the prefix bi- ('two', from Latin) and gender.

Bigfoot

Origin · 1958

Coined in 1958 from "big" plus "foot," referring to the unusually large footprints attributed to the creature.

bigha

Origin

Borrowed from Bengali বিঘা (bigha).

bighorn

Origin

Simply a compound of "big" and "horn," describing the animal's most distinctive feature.