Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·French ·1690s
Bureau
from bureau
- Meaning
- A writing desk; an administrative office.
- Source word
- bureau
- Route into English
- Old French *burel* (coarse woollen cloth, used as a desk cover) → *bureau* (the desk) → (the office on it) → English. The metonymic shift from cloth to desk to office happened within French before English borrowed any of it.
- Arrived
- 1690s
From French
Beyond the Norman conquest's Old French foundation, English kept borrowing from French for art, cuisine, fashion, and diplomacy throughout the modern period.
English borrows.
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