Where does “bureaucrat” come from?

Bureaucrat comes from French bureaucrate, derived from French bureaucratie, blending French bureau with Ancient Greek -κρατία meaning rule, ultimately from Ancient Greek κράτος meaning power, traced through Latin burrus and Ancient Greek πυρρός to Ancient Greek βοῦς meaning ox.

bureaucrat (English): An official who is part of a bureaucracy; A wiki...

Definitions

  1. An official who is part of a bureaucracy; A wiki...

Ancestry of “bureaucrat”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchbureaucratebureaucrat
2Frenchbureaucratiebureaucracy
3Frenchbureaudesk; office; ticket office
4Middle Frenchburel
5Old Frenchburelfrieze; a garment made out of frieze
6Old French-elSuffix that usually denotes a masculine noun
7Latin-ellusAlternative form of -ulus; "forming masculine...
8Latin-ulusUsed to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating...
9Proto-Italic-olos
10Proto-Italic-elosForms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns
11Proto-Indo-European-e-lós
12Proto-Indo-European-lósForms agent nouns from verbal roots

Words derived from “bureaucrat

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -lósEvery word from Latin -ulusEvery word from Latin -ellus