Where does “blockbuster” come from?
Blockbuster derives from English burst and English block, with block traceable to Middle Dutch blok and Old Dutch blok.
blockbuster (English): A high-explosive bomb used for the purposes of...
Definitions
- A high-explosive bomb used for the purposes of...
Ancestry of “blockbuster”, step by step
blockbuster traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English block
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | block | A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece... |
| 2 | French | Bloc | Bloc — Bloc Québécois (Bloc québécois) |
| 3 | Middle French | bloc | a considerable piece of something heavy, block |
| 4 | Old French | bloc | log, block |
| 5 | Dutch | blok | a block; a street block; a political bloc |
| 6 | Middle Dutch | blok | treetrunk |
| 7 | Old Dutch | blok | log |
| 8 | Proto-West Germanic | blokk | block, log |
| 9 | Proto-Germanic | blukką | block, log |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | bhulg'- | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | bhelg'- | thick plank, beam, pile, prop |
via English Buster
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Buster | who or something that bursts, breaks, or destroys a specified thing |
| 2 | German | Büste | bust; dummy |
| 3 | French | buste | bust, torso; bust |
| 4 | Italian | busto | tomb, grave; cadaver, corpse; bust |
| 5 | Latin | bustum | A burial mound, tomb; A place for burning funeral... |
| 6 | Latin | urere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 7 | Latin | uro | I burn, consume, inflame; to rage, to ravage |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | ouzō | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁ews- | to burn |