"B" Word Origins

bivouac

French

Borrowed from French bivouac, itself from a Swiss-German word meaning an extra night watch kept by a town guard.

Bixby

Old English

From Old English for "box tree" plus Old Norse for "farm, town."

biz

Origin

A casual clipping of the word "business".

bizarre

French

Borrowed from French bizarre ("odd, peculiar"), which most likely came from Italian bizzarro ("eccentric, frisky").

bizarrely

Origin

Formed from bizarre plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

bizarro

Origin

A playful variant of bizarre, popularized by the comic-book character Bizarro, a warped mirror-image of Superman.

blab

Middle English

From Middle English blabben, "to talk foolishly", likely related to a word for idle chatter.

blabber

Middle English

Inherited from Middle English blaberen, an old word for babbling or stammering speech.

blabbermouth

Origin

From blabber ("to reveal a secret carelessly") plus mouth.

blabtale

Origin

From blab + tale.

black

Old English

From Old English blæc ("black, dark; also ink"), ultimately from a root meaning "burnt" — related to words for burning and scorching in several old languages.

Blackadder

Irish

PIE word *wasdʰos From black + a second element, possibly derived from one of the following: * From Irish fad (“length”), fada (“long”, adjective) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wasdʰos (“long; wide”)) + dobhar (“moisture; sea; water”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“deep”)), referring to a long river. * From Old English ǣdre (“channel for liquids; river; (anatomy) artery or vein; sinew”), from Proto-Germanic *ēþrǭ (“rivulet; (anatomy) vein”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₁éh₁t-r̥ ~ *h₁h₁t-éns (“lung; internal organ”), from *h₁eh₁t- (“breath; to breathe”) + *-r̥ (suffix forming nouns). However, this etymology has been doubted as it has been suggested that the long initial vowel in Old English would have been preserved in English and Scots. * From Proto-Brythonic *ador or *edir (“(possibly) name of a river”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *hₐet- (“to go”) + *-r̥. The surname is from the river and the adjacent Blackadder House.

blackamoor

Origin

From earlier blackmoor + -a-. By surface analysis, black + -a- + Moor.

blackball

Origin

From black + ball.

Blackbeard

Origin

From black and beard, describing his thick dark beard.

blackberry

Old English

From Old English blæcberġe, a straightforward combination of black and berry.

blackbird

Middle English

From Middle English blakebird, a plain combination of black and bird.

blackboard

Origin

From black and board, named because such surfaces were once made from black slate.

Blackburn

Old English

From Old English words meaning "dark" and "stream."

blacken

Middle English

From Middle English blaknen, formed from black plus the verb-forming suffix -en.

blackened

Origin

From blacken plus the past-tense/adjective suffix -ed.

blackenedness

Origin

From blackened + -ness.

blackening

Origin

From blacken + -ing.

blacker

Old English

From black plus the comparative ending -er, tracing back through Old English blæc to a much older Germanic root for "burnt" or "scorched."

blackguard

Origin

From black and guard, originally referring to the lowest kitchen servants of a great house, who were often stained with soot and grime from their work.

blackheart

Origin

From black + heart.

blackishness

Origin

From blackish + -ness.

blackjack

Origin

From black plus jack, likely referring to the leather-covered club.

blackleg

Origin

From black + leg.

blacklessness

Origin

From blackless + -ness.

blacklist

Origin

From black and list, black carrying its old sense of "disgraced" or "banned".

blackmail

Origin

From black plus an old word "mail" meaning rent or tribute — originally the protection money paid to border raiders in Scotland and northern England to avoid being robbed.

blackmailer

Origin

From blackmail plus the agent suffix -er.

blackness

Middle English

From Middle English blaknesse, built from black plus -ness.

blackout

Origin

A noun formed from the phrasal verb "black out".

blacksmith

Origin

From "black" (the colour of forged iron) plus "smith," an old word for someone who shapes metal.

Blackstone

Old English

From Old English words for "black" and "stone."

blacktop

Origin

From black + top.

blackwash

Origin

From black + -wash or black + wash (depending on sense).

blackwater

Origin

A compound of "black" and "water," describing water that looks dark rather than clear.

blackwood

Origin

From "black" plus "wood," describing the timber's dark colour.

blacky

Origin

From black plus the diminutive suffix -y, originally used casually but now recognized as carrying a dated, offensive edge in its racial sense.

bladder

Old English

From Old English blǣdre, related to words for "blister," describing something that swells with fluid or air.

bladdered

Origin

From bladder + -ed.

blade

Old English

From Old English blæd, originally meaning "leaf" — the flat shape of a leaf and a cutting blade were seen as similar.

blagger

Origin

From blag + -er.

blah

Origin · 1910

An imitative word from the 1910s–40s, echoing the sound of meaningless chatter.

blain

Origin

From Middle English blein, from Old English bleġen, bleġene, from Proto-Germanic *blajinǭ, *blajjinǭ, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to swell up”). Cognate with West Frisian blein (“blain”), Dutch blein, blegn (“blain”), Middle Low German bleine (“blain”). Related also to dialectal Norwegian bleime (“blister”), Old Swedish blēma (“blister”), French bleime (“an inflammation of a horse's hoof”).