List of English Words of Dutch Origin - B

B

Bamboo

from Dutch bamboe, from Portuguese bambu, earlier mambu (16th century), probably from Malay samambu, though some suspect this is itself an imported word

Bantam

after Bantam, former Dutch residency in Java, from which the small domestic fowl were said to have been first imported The word could have originated in Kannada ಬಮ್ಬು bambu.

Batik

from Dutch, from Malay mbatik (="writing, drawing")

Bazooka

"metal tube rocket launcher," from name of a junkyard musical instrument used as a prop by U.S. comedian Bob Burns, extension of bazoo (slang for "mouth" or "boastful talk"), probably from Dutch bazuin (="trumpet")

Beaker

from beker (="mug, cup")

Beleaguer

from belegeren (="besiege, attack with an army"), leger (="army")

Berm

from French berme, from Old Dutch baerm (in Dutch, the English meaning is now archaic, berm being used as "usually grassy ground alongside a road")

Bicker

"a skirmish, fight," bikern, probably from Middle Dutch bicken (="to slash, stab, attack") + -er, Middle English frequentative suffix

Blare

blèren (="to wail"), possibly from an unrecorded Old English *blæren, or from Middle Dutch blèren (="to bleat, cry, bawl, shout")

Blasé

from French blasé, past participle of blaser (="to satiate"), origin unknown; perhaps from Dutch blazen (="to blow"), with a sense of "puffed up under the effects of drinking"

Blaze (to make public, often in a bad sense, boastfully)

from Middle Dutch blasen (="to blow, on a trumpet)

Blink

from Middle Dutch blinken (="to glitter")

Blister

from Old French blestre, perhaps from a Scandinavian source or from Middle Dutch blyster (="swelling")

Block (solid piece)

from Old French bloc (="log, block"), via Middle Dutch bloc (="trunk of a tree") or Old High German bloh

Blow (hard hit)

blowe, from northern and East Midlands dialects, perhaps from Middle Dutch blouwen (="to beat")

Bluff (poker term)

perhaps from Dutch bluffen (="to brag, boast") or verbluffen (="to baffle, mislead")

Bluff (landscape feature)

from Dutch blaf (="flat, broad"), apparently a North Sea nautical term for ships with flat vertical bows, later extended to landscape features

Blunderbuss

from Dutch donderbus, from donder (="thunder") + bus (="gun," originally "box, tube"), altered by resemblance to blunder

Boer

(="Dutch colonist in South Africa") from Dutch boer (="farmer"), from Middle Dutch

Bogart

after Humphrey Bogart. Boomgaard means "orchard" ("tree-garden").

Boodle

perhaps from Dutch boedel (="property")

Boom

from boom (="tree"); cognate to English beam, German baum

Booze

from Middle Dutch busen (="to drink in excess"); according to JW de Vries busen is equivalent to buizen

Boss

from baas

Boulevard

from "bolwerk", which came as 'boulevard' into French, then into English

Bow (front of a ship)

from boeg

Brackish

from Scottish brack, from Middle Dutch brak (="salty," also "worthless")

Brandy (wine)

from brandewijn (literally "burnt wine")

Brawl

from brallen

Brooklyn

after the town of Breukelen near Utrecht Brooklyn

Buckwheat

from Middle Dutch boecweite (="beech wheat") because of its resemblance between grains and seed of beech wheat.

Bully

from boel (="lover," "brother"), from Middle High German buole, maybe influenced by bull.

Bulwark

from bolwerk

Bundle

from Middle Dutch bondel (=diminutive of bond), from binden "bind," or perhaps a merger of this word and Old English byndele (="binding")

Bumpkin

from bommekijn (="little barrel")

Bung

from Middle Dutch bonge (="stopper"), or perhaps from French bonde, which may be of Germanic origin, or from Gaulish bunda

Buoy

from boei (="shackle" or "buoy")

Bush (uncleared district of a British colony)

probably from Dutch bosch, in the same sense, since it seems to appear first in former Dutch colonies