Where does “billiards” come from?
Billiards comes from French billard, formed with the French suffix -ard from Latin bulla meaning bubble or ball, from Proto-Celtic belyos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰel- meaning to swell.
billiards (English): A two-player cue sport played with two cue balls...
Definitions
- A two-player cue sport played with two cue balls...
Ancestry of “billiards”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | billard | billiards; pool table; operating table |
| 2 | French | bille | marble; ball; ball bearing |
| 3 | Middle French | bille | — |
| 4 | Old French | bille | stick; baton; written decree, announcement |
| 5 | Vulgar Latin | billia | — |
| 6 | Gaulish | bilia | tall tree |
| 7 | Proto-Celtic | belyom | tree |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰolh₃yom | leaf |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰleh₃- | bloom, flower |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰel- | to sound; to speak, roar, bark; shiny, white; to... |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰōl- | — |