"B" Word Origins

bando

Origin

Clipping of abandoned.

bandoneon

Origin

From Spanish bandoneón, from German Bandoneon, named after Heinrich Band.

Bandra

Origin

Possibly from Marathi वांदर (vāndar, “monkey”) or Persian بندر (bandar, “port, harbour”).

bandstand

Origin

A straightforward compound of band (a group of musicians) and stand (a platform).

bandwagon

Origin · 1800

Originally a literal large wagon that carried a band in a parade; political candidates would ride on one to draw a crowd, and by the late 1800s "jump on the bandwagon" came to mean joining whatever side looked set to win.

bandwidth

Origin

From band (a range of frequencies) + width; originally a radio and telecommunications term before it was borrowed informally for personal capacity.

bandy

French

From French bander, originally describing hitting a ball back and forth in an early form of tennis — the "passing back and forth" sense comes straight from that game.

bane

Old English

From Old English bana, meaning a killer or cause of death, from a Germanic root tied to slaying — the word has softened over time from "someone's literal killer" to "someone's biggest annoyance."

baneful

Origin

From bane + -ful.

Banerjee

Origin

Borrowed from Bengali বাঁড়ুজ্জে (bãṛujje).

bang

Old Norse

Probably from Old Norse banga, "to pound or hammer," describing a heavy striking action; the hairstyle sense developed separately from "bang off," meaning cut straight across.

Bangalore

Origin

Formed from the city name Bangalore (now officially Bengaluru), once shorthand in business jargon for the offshoring of tech and support jobs to India.

bangarang

Origin

Borrowed from Jamaican Creole bangarang.

banger

Origin

From bang + -er. The sausages were so called because of their excess water content and impervious skin, leading to the risk of explosion if not punctured before cooking.

Bangkok

Origin

From Thai บางกอก (Bang Kok), an older name for the area predating its official Thai name Krung Thep, which is still used internationally.

Bangladesh

Origin

From Bengali Bangladesh, literally "the land of Bengal," combining Bangla ("Bengali") with desh ("country").

bangle

Hindi

Borrowed from the Hindi word for a glass bracelet.

Bangor

Welsh

From Welsh bangor ("wattle").

bangs

Danish · 1890

Named after the Danish veterinarian Bernhard Bang, who identified the bacterium responsible in the 1890s.

bangtail

Origin

From bang + tail. The primary meaning refers to the sense bang (“fringe of hair cut across the forehead”).

banish

Old French

From Old French banir, "to proclaim or outlaw," rooted in the same Germanic word behind ban — to banish someone was originally to publicly declare them an outlaw.

banishment

Origin

Simply banish plus the noun-forming suffix -ment.

banister

Origin

An altered form of an earlier word derived from baluster, the term for the small decorative posts supporting a railing.

banjaxed

Origin

From banjax + -ed.

banjo

Origin

Likely from a West African language, possibly related to Kimbundu mbanza or a similar term, carried into English through African-American speech in the American South.

banjolin

Origin

Blend of banjo + mandolin.

bank

Italian

From Italian banca, "bench" or "counter" — early moneylenders in Italy conducted business at a bench in the marketplace, and the word carried over directly into English for the institution itself.

banker

French

From bank plus the agent suffix -er, modeled on the equivalent French banquier.

bankerage

Origin

Blend of bank + brokerage.

bankroll

Origin

A compound of bank and roll, originally describing a literal roll of banknotes carried instead of a wallet.

bankrupt

Italian

From Italian bancarotta, literally "broken bench" — moneylenders who could no longer pay their debts reportedly had their market bench physically broken to signal it publicly.

bankruptcy

Origin

From bankrupt plus the noun suffix -cy.

banner

Old French

From Old French baniere, ultimately Germanic in origin and related to band — originally a military flag carried to identify a commander's troops.

bannerman

Origin

A compound of banner and man, describing the historical role of carrying a unit's flag into battle.

banning

Origin

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Bannister

Norman

English surname of Norman origin, from the archaic noun banaste (“basket, wickerwork”); see banne (“wicker basket”). Not related to banister.

banns

Origin

An alteration of bans.

banquet

Italian

From Italian banchetto, literally "a little bench" — describing a light snack eaten sitting on a small bench, which later grew into the grand-feast sense we use today.

banshee

Old Irish · 1771

From Irish bean sí, literally "woman of the fairy mound," via Old Irish ben síde. The word entered English in 1771.

banter

Irish · 1670

First recorded in the 1670s (as a verb) and 1680s (as a noun). The exact origin is unclear — it may have started as London street slang, and some think it comes from an Irish phrase meaning "talk of women."

bantling

Origin

Uncertain. Perhaps from band(s) (“swaddling clothes”) + -ling, or a modification of German Bänkling (“bastard-child”), equivalent to bench + -ling.

Banu

Persian

* As an Islamic surname (Indian subcontinent), from Hindustani (Hindi बानू, बानो (bānū, bāno) / Urdu بانو (bānū, bānō)), from Persian بانو (bānū, bānō, “lady”), variant of Bano. * Borrowed from Bengali বানু (banu), a surname predominantly found in Bangladesh and West Bengal, probably related to the above. * Borrowed from Romanian Banu, from the medieval title ban; see Ban.

banyan

Portuguese

From Portuguese baniano, from Arabic baniyān, ultimately from Sanskrit vāṇija ("merchant"). The tree itself was named after the Hindu merchants (banyans) who traditionally gathered and traded beneath one famous specimen near a port in Persia.

banzai

Chinese

From Japanese 万歳 (banzai), literally "ten thousand years [of life]," borrowed centuries earlier from Chinese — originally a wish for the emperor's long life, later a general cheer of triumph.

bao

Origin

Borrowed from Mandarin 包 (bāo), meaning "bun" or "wrap."

bap

Origin

Originally Scottish English; the word's ultimate origin is unknown.

baptism

Late Latin

From Old French bapteme, from Late Latin baptisma, from Greek baptisma ("dipping, immersion"), from baptizein ("to dip in water"). It replaced the native Old English word fulwiht.

Baptist

Late Latin

From Old French baptiste, from Late Latin baptista, from Greek baptistēs — someone who baptizes, from the verb baptizein.