"B" Word Origins

blair

Origin

From Scottish Gaelic blàr (“field, plain”).

Blaire

Scottish Gaelic

From Scottish Gaelic, originally meaning "plain, field."

Blaise

Latin

From Old French Blaise, from Latin Blasius.

blake

Old English

Curiously, this word has two opposite ancestors that collided into one spelling: an Old English word for "pale, shining" and its near-opposite, an Old English word for "black." Both fed into Middle English "blake."

blakeley

Origin

Habitational surname from several minor places in England, from Old English blæc (“black”) + lēah (“woodland clearing”). Equivalent to black + -ley (“lea”).

Blakely

Origin

A variant of the surname Blakeley.

blam

Origin

A pure sound word (onomatopoeia) — invented to imitate the bang of a gunshot or explosion.

blame

Latin

From Old French blasmer, going back through Latin to Greek blasphēmeîn — the same root that gives us "blaspheme."

blamed

Origin

A euphemistic softening of "damned," using the word "blame" instead of the stronger curse.

blameless

Origin

From "blame" plus the suffix "-less," meaning "without."

blameworthy

Origin

From Middle English blame worthy, blame-worthy, equivalent to blame + -worthy.

blaming

Origin

Formed from the verb "blame" plus the ending "-ing," which turns an action into a noun describing that ongoing activity.

blanc

French

Borrowed from French blanc, meaning "white."

blanch

Origin

From Middle English blaunchen, from Old French blanchir, from Old French blanc (“white”), from Early Medieval Latin blancus, from Frankish *blank, from Proto-Germanic *blankaz (“bright, shining, blinding, white”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyǵ- (“to shine”). Cognates Cognate with blench (“to deceive, to trick”) through Proto-Indo-European, whence other etymology of blanch.

Blanchard

French

Borrowed from French Blanchard, related to blanc, "white."

Blanche

Old French

From Old French blanc, "white."

blanco

Spanish

From Spanish blanco, "white," used in English mainly as a brand name for a whitening polish and later turned into a verb.

bland

Latin

From Latin blandus, meaning "pleasant" or "flattering" — the meaning later shifted toward "mild" and then "dull."

blandish

Origin

From Middle English blaundishen (“to flatter; to fawn; to be enticing or persuasive; to be favourable; of the sea: to become calm”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman blaundishen, from blandiss-, the extended stem of Middle French blandir + Middle English -ishen (suffix forming verbs). Blandir is derived from Latin blandīrī (“to fawn, flatter; to delude”), from blandus (“fawning, flattering, smooth, suave; persuasive; alluring, enticing, seductive; agreeable, pleasant”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“erroneous, false; bad, evil”)) + -iō (suffix forming causative verbs from adjectives). The English word is analysable as bland + -ish; compare bland (“agreeable, pleasant, suave; mild, soothing”).

blandishment

Origin

From blandish (“to persuade someone by using flattery, to cajole; to praise someone dishonestly, to flatter or butter up”) + -ment (suffix forming nouns from verbs, having the sense of ‘the action or result of what is denoted by the verbs’). Blandish is derived from Middle English blaundishen (“to flatter; to fawn; to be enticing or persuasive; to be favourable; of the sea: to become calm”) [and other forms] (whence blaundice (“flattery, blandishment; caresses, dalliance; allurement, attractiveness; deceitfulness, deception”) [and other forms]), from Middle English blaundishen, from blandiss-, the extended stem of Middle French blandir + Middle English -ishen (suffix forming verbs). Blandir is derived from Latin blandīrī, the present active infinitive of blandior (“to fawn, flatter; to delude”), from blandus (“fawning, flattering, smooth, suave; persuasive; alluring, enticing, seductive; agreeable, pleasant”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“erroneous, false; bad, evil”)) + -iō (suffix forming causative verbs from adjectives).

blank

Old French

From Old French blanc, "white," via Middle English — the sense shifted from "white/pale" to "empty" over time.

blanket

Old French

From Old French blanchet, a diminutive of blanc ("white"), originally naming a white woollen cloth.

blankie

Origin

A shortened, affectionate form of "blanket" with the diminutive ending "-ie."

blare

Middle English

From Middle English blaren, likely an imitative word echoing a loud, bellowing sound.

blarney

Origin

Named after Blarney Castle in Ireland, home of the Blarney Stone, which legend says gives whoever kisses it the gift of persuasive speech.

blase

Origin

A rather rare spelling variant of Blaise, from Latin Blasius.

blaspheme

Latin

From Greek blasphēmeîn via Old French and Latin — the same root gives English "blame."

blasphemer

Origin

From "blaspheme" plus the agent suffix "-er," meaning "one who does."

blasphemous

Latin

From Greek blásphēmos, "uttering ill-omened words," via Latin, plus the adjective suffix "-ous."

blasphemy

Latin

From Greek blasphēmía ("profanity, slander") via Old French and Latin.

blast

Old English

From Old English blǣst, meaning "a blowing" or "gust," related to the verb "blow."

blasted

Origin

Past participle of "blast," extended to a mild swear word expressing frustration.

blaster

Origin

From "blast" plus the agent suffix "-er" — literally, a thing that blasts.

blasting

Middle English

From Middle English "blastyng," formed from "blast" plus the "-ing" ending.

blat

Origin

Imitative. First attested in 1846 in the intransitive sense of "bleat". Compare English bleat, Old English blǣtan (“to bleat”).

blatant

Origin · 1596

Coined by the poet Edmund Spenser in 1596 for his monstrous "blatant beast," likely inspired by "bleat" — the idea of something loudly and harshly sounding off.

blatantly

Origin

From "blatant" plus the adverb-forming "-ly."

blatch

Origin

From Middle English blacchen, from the noun above.

blate

Origin

Borrowed from Scots blate (“timid, sheepish”), apparently a conflation of: * Northern Middle English *blate, *blait (“pale, ghastly, terrified”), from Old English blāt (“pale, livid, ghastly”), from Proto-West Germanic *blait (“pale, discoloured”), from Proto-Germanic *blaitaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyd- (“pale, pallid”); * Middle English bleth, bleath (“timid, soft”), from Old English blēaþ (“gentle, shy, cowardly, timid; slothful, inactive, effeminate”), from Proto-Germanic *blauþuz (“weak, timid, void, naked”). Cognate with German blassen (“to make pale”), bleich (“pale, pallid”). More at bleak, bleach.

blather

Origin

From Middle English bletheren, bloderen, from Old Norse blaðra (“to speak inarticulately, talk nonsense”). Cognate with Scots blether, bladder, bledder (“to blather”), dialectal German bladdern (“to talk nonsense, blather”), Norwegian bladra (“to babble, speak imperfectly”), Icelandic blaðra (“to twaddle”).

blatherskite

Origin

From blather + skite (“shit, shite”). Alternatively the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary asserts that the word is of Scottish origin, with blather/blether + skate referring to someone who is "contemptible". First use of the term dates to the mid-17th century. Compare cheapskate.

blayre

Origin

From Scottish Gaelic.

blazar

Origin

Blend of B + L + Lac + quasar. Coined by astronomer Edward Spiegel in 1978 from BL Lac object and quasar, punning blazing from its optical presentation compared to usual quasars. By surface analysis, blaze + -ar.

blaze

Old English

From Old English "blæse," meaning a torch or flame, tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to shine."

blazer

Origin · 1800

From "blaze" plus "-er." The word is often traced to the bright scarlet jackets worn by a Cambridge rowing club in the 19th century, whose "blazing" colour gave the garment its name.

bleach

Old English

From Old English "blǣċan," meaning "to whiten," ultimately from a root meaning "to shine" — related to words like "bleak" and "bleak"-adjacent "pale."

bleak

Old English

From Old English "blāc," meaning pale, related to Old Norse "bleikr" — the same root that gave us "bleach."

blear

Origin

From Middle English blere, related to Low German bleeroged (“bleareyed”), Middle High German blerre (“double vision”), German Blerre (“double vision”). Perhaps also related to blur.