"B" Word Origins

baitly

Origin

From bait (“obvious”, adjective) + -ly.

baize

Origin

From French baies, feminine plural of adjective bai (“bay-colored”) mistaken as a singular noun.

Baja

Spanish

From Spanish baja, from bajo, from Latin bassus.

bak

Korean

Borrowed directly from the Korean word 박 (bak).

baka

Japanese

From Japanese baka, meaning fool or foolishness.

bake

Old English

From Old English bacan ("to bake"), from a Proto-Germanic root shared with Dutch bakken and German backen.

baker

Old English

From Old English bæcere ("baker"), formed from bake plus the agent suffix -er.

Bakers

Origin

From the surname Baker.

Bakersfield

Origin

Named after Thomas Baker, originally known as Baker's Field.

bakery

Origin

From bake plus the suffix -ery, meaning "place of." It replaced the older English word bakehouse.

Bakes

Origin

Clipping of Baker + -s.

bakeshop

Origin

Compound of bake + shop.

baking

Middle English

From Middle English bakynge, formed from bake plus the suffix -ing.

baklava

Turkish

Borrowed from Turkish baklava, likely tracing back to an older Mongolic word meaning "bundle" or "package," referring to the layered pastry.

Baku

Classical Persian

From Classical Persian بَاکُو (bākū). For further etymology, see Baku on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Bala

Welsh

From Welsh bala ("effluent from a lake").

balaclava

Origin · 1854

Named after Balaklava in Crimea, after British troops there during the Crimean War (1854) needed warm knitted headgear to cope with the bitter cold, and the garment took the town's name.

Balaji

Sanskrit

Compound of Sanskrit बाल (bāla, “young boy, the form of Vishnu at the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh.”) + Hindi -जी (-jī, “honorific”). The surname is particularly found in Andhra Pradesh.

balance

Latin

From Old French balance, ultimately from Latin bilanx, "having two scales" — from bi- ("two") and lanx ("plate" or "scale").

Balances

Latin

A calque of Latin Libra.

balboa

Spanish

Named after the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, who led the first European expedition to reach the Pacific from the Americas.

balcony

Germanic

From Italian balcone, originally meaning "scaffold," from a Germanic word for "beam."

bald

Middle English

From Middle English balled, of uncertain origin — likely related to an old word for "ball" or "round object," describing a smooth, hairless head.

Balder

Old Norse

From Old Norse Baldr.

balderdash

Old English

Origin uncertain — possibly from an old English term for a mixed, cheap drink of wine, beer, and other liquids, later applied to any jumbled nonsense.

baldhead

Origin

From bald + head.

baldie

Origin

From bald + -ie.

baldness

Middle English

From Middle English ballednesse, from bald plus the suffix -ness.

baldpate

Origin

From bald + pate.

Baldwin

Germanic

From an old Germanic name meaning "bold friend."

bale

Old English

From Old English bealu ("evil, harm"), an older sense now mostly obsolete; the "bundle" sense comes from a separate, related Germanic word for a compressed package of goods.

baleen

Origin

From Middle English baleyne, from Old French baleine (“whale, whalebone”), from Latin balaena (“whale”), from Ancient Greek φάλαινα (phálaina, “whale”).

balefire

Origin

From Middle English bale-fyre, from Old English bǣlfȳr (“balefire, funeral or sacrificial fire”); equivalent to bale (“funeral pyre”) + fire.

baleful

Origin

From Middle English baleful, balful, baluful, from Old English bealuful, which was equivalent to bealu + -ful. By surface analysis, bale (“evil, woe”) + -ful. See bale for further etymology.

Balenciaga

Spanish

From the surname of the Basque couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga, who founded the house.

Balfour

Scottish Gaelic

From Scottish Gaelic baile ("village, town") + pòr ("pasture").

Bali

Sanskrit

Possibly from Sanskrit, meaning "island of offerings".

balk

Origin

From Middle English balke, from Old English balca, either from or influenced by Old Norse bálkr (“partition, ridge of land”), from Proto-Germanic *balkô. Cognate with Dutch balk (“balk”), German Balken (“balk”), Italian balcone (“balcony”).

Balkan

Ottoman Turkish

From Ottoman Turkish balkan, meaning "wooded, craggy mountain range," which gave its name to the mountain range and later the wider region.

balkanic

Origin

From Balkan + -ic.

Balkans

Origin

Named after the Balkan mountain range, from a Turkic word meaning "wooded mountain range."

ball

Middle English

From Middle English bal, ultimately from a Germanic root meaning "round object," related to the word for "swell" or "inflate."

ballad

Late Latin

From Old French ballade, originally meaning "a poem meant for dancing," from Late Latin ballare, "to dance."

ballast

Middle English

From Middle English, combining words meaning "bare" and "load."

Balle

Dutch

Various origins: * Borrowed from Dutch Balle, a reduced form of any of various Germanic names beginning with the element *balþaz (“bold”). * Borrowed from Danish Balle, a habitational surname from balle (“slope; hill”). * A respelling of Catalan Batlle, an occupational surname from batlle (“mayor”).

baller

Origin

From ball plus -er; the "extravagant" sense grew out of the image of wealthy professional basketball players.

ballerina

Origin

Borrowed from Italian ballerina.

ballet

Late Latin

Borrowed from French ballet, from Italian balletto, a diminutive of ballo ("dance"), from Late Latin ballare ("to dance").