Etymology Explorer › French

Where does “bouffon” come from?

bouffon (French) comes from Middle French boufon, from Italian buffone, from Italian -one, from Latin -ō, from Proto-Indo-European -ō — Derives nouns from roots.

bouffon (French): fool; buffoon, fool; grotesque, silly, clownlike

Definitions

  1. fool; buffoon, fool; grotesque, silly, clownlike

Ancestry of “bouffon”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchboufoncourt jester; jester
2Italianbuffoneclown, buffoon, joker, fool; plural of buffona
3Italian-oneAlterative suffix used to form augmentatives;...
4Latin-ō—
5Proto-Indo-European-ōDerives nouns from roots

Words derived from “bouffon”

  • bouffonnerie
  • bufon
  • bouffon
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ō →