"B" Word Origins

Bukowski

Polish

Borrowed directly from the Polish surname Bukowski.

bulb

Ancient Greek

From Latin bulbus, "bulb, onion," from Ancient Greek bolbos, a round-stemmed plant.

bulbhead

Origin

From bulb + head.

Bulgaria

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin Bulgaria, from Bulgar, the name of the Turkic people who settled the region, + the place-name suffix -ia.

Bulgarian

Origin

From Bulgaria + the adjective suffix -an/-ian.

bulge

Old French

From Old French boulge, "leather bag," ultimately from a Celtic root meaning "sack" or "belly" — related to "bilge," "belly," and "budget."

bulger

Origin

From bulge + the agent suffix -er.

bulimia

Ancient Greek

A learned borrowing from Ancient Greek boulimia, "ravenous hunger," from bous ("ox") + limos ("hunger") — literally "hungry as an ox."

bulimic

Origin

From bulimia + the adjective suffix -ic.

bulk

Old Norse

From Old Norse búlki, "the cargo of a ship," related to a Germanic root meaning "heap" or "pile."

bulkhead

Old Norse

From Old Norse bálkr, "partition," combined with "head," reshaped in English as "bulk" + "head."

bulky

Origin

From bulk + the adjective suffix -y.

bull

Old English

From Old English bula and Old Norse boli, both meaning "bull," from a Germanic root related to swelling or blowing up — describing the animal's bulk.

bull market

English

From bull, stock-market slang for someone buying in expectation of rising prices, plus market; formed as the counterpart to bear market.

bullbat

Origin

bull + bat; so called from the loud noise it makes while feeding on the wing, in the evening.

bullcrap

Origin

A blend of bull and crap, used as a softer substitute for a more vulgar equivalent.

bulldog

Origin

From bull + dog, referring to the breed's original use in the blood sport of bull-baiting.

bulldoze

Origin

From an earlier noun "bulldose," literally "a dose fit for a bull" — meaning a heavy, forceful blow — later reapplied to the machine.

bulldozer

Origin · 1870

Originally coined in 1870s Louisiana for someone who intimidated others by force; the earthmoving machine was later named after that sense, figuratively.

bulldust

Origin

From bull + dust. In the slang sense, a euphemism for bullshit.

buller

Latin

From Scots buller, "to boil, seethe," probably related to Old Norse bulla and Latin bulliō, both meaning "to boil."

bullet

Old French

From Old French boulette, diminutive of boule, "ball" — the projectile is named after its rounded shape.

bulletin

French

Borrowed from French bulletin, ultimately built from bull ("ball," as in a wax seal) plus diminutive endings.

bulletproof

Origin

From bullet + proof, "resistant to."

bullfight

Origin

From bull + fight.

bullfighter

Origin

From bull + fighter.

bullfighting

Origin

From bull + fighting.

bullfrog

Origin

From bull + frog, describing the animal's deep, bull-like call.

bullhorn

Origin · 1950

From bull + horn, attested since the 1950s.

bullion

French

From Anglo-Norman bullion, of uncertain ultimate origin, possibly linked to French bouillon in the sense of "melting."

bullish

English

From bull in the stock-market sense of a buyer who expects prices to rise, plus the adjective ending -ish; the market sense of bull is of uncertain origin.

bullock

Old English

From Old English bulluc, from bull + the diminutive suffix -ock.

bullocks

Origin

A variant spelling of "bollocks", a much older British slang word for testicles.

bullpen

Origin

Originally an enclosure for holding bulls; the baseball sense borrows the image of penned-in animals waiting to be let loose.

Bulls

Origin

From the surname Bull.

bullseye

Origin

From "bull's eye" — possibly from the old practice of English archers testing their skill by shooting an arrow through the eye socket of a bull's skull.

bullshit

Origin · 1910

Literally "bull excrement"; the figurative sense meaning nonsense or lies dates to around the 1910s.

bullshitter

Origin

From bullshit + the agent suffix -er, someone who does the action.

bullspeak

Origin

From bull + -speak.

bully

Dutch · 1530

Originally (1530s) a term of endearment from Dutch boel ("lover, brother"); it darkened in meaning during the 1600s to describe a blustering, cruel person.

bullying

Origin

From bully + the suffix -ing, forming the noun for the ongoing behavior.

bulrush

Origin

From Middle English bulrish, perhaps from bule (“bull”) (in the sense of "large") + rish (“rush”).

bulwark

Origin

From Middle English bulwerk, from Middle Dutch bolwerk, bolwerc and Middle Low German bolwerk, equivalent to bole (“tree trunk”) + work. Cognate with German Bollwerk, Danish bolværk, Swedish bålverk, Dutch bolwerk. Doublet of boulevard (from French boulevard, from Dutch); cognate with Portuguese and Spanish baluarte and Italian baluardo.

bum

Middle English · 1300

Recorded since the 1300s as Middle English "bom"; its ultimate origin is uncertain, though some link it to imitative (sound-based) coinage.

bumble

Origin

Believed to be imitative of sound, like the related words bungle, jumble, and fumble.

bumblebee

Middle English · 1520

From bumble ("to buzz") + bee, first recorded in the 1520s, replacing the earlier Middle English "humbul-be."

bumbledom

Origin

From Mr. Bumble, a character in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, + -dom.

bumbler

Origin

From bumble + -er.