Where does “bachelor” come from?
Bachelor comes from Middle English bacheler, from Latin baccalaureus, ultimately from Latin bacca meaning berry, tracing back to Proto-Indo-European bʰask-.
bachelor (English): A person, especially a man, who is socially...
Definitions
- A person, especially a man, who is socially...
Ancestry of “bachelor”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | bacheler | young man |
| 2 | Old French | bacheler | young man |
| 3 | Medieval Latin | baccalaureus | — |
| 4 | Medieval Latin | baccalaureatus | bachelor's degree |
| 5 | Latin | baccalaureus | bachelor |
| 6 | Latin | laurea | laurel, bay tree; crown, wreath or branch of... |
| 7 | Latin | laurus | laurel tree; laurels; a crown of laurel |
| 8 | English | -aceous | Of, relating to, resembling or containing the... |
| 9 | Latin | -āceus | aceous; resembling, having the nature of, forming, belonging to |
| 10 | Latin | -āx | ish, -y |
| 11 | Latin | -ium | Suffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes... |
| 12 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 13 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |