baguette

Etymology

It is borrowed from French baguette (“small rod, wand”),^[2][3][4][5] recorded in Middle French from 1510.^[2] The French word is from Italian bacchetta (“little rod”) (14th century),^[2][5][3][4] a diminutive of bacchio (“rod”),^[5][3][6] from Latin baculum (“staff, stick”).^[5][3][2][7] The Oxford dictionaries give the Italian form as bacchetto,^[7][8][9] and the American Heritage Dictionary traces the Latin word to Proto-Indo-European *bak-.^[5] Etymonline relates it to bacillus.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A rod or wand of some kind, such as a divining rod, drumstick or conductor's baton: 1683, in J. Bulteel's translation of Mézeray's chronology; this sense is now rare.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The French word took several special senses: a small architectural moulding (1704), and later a long thin loaf and a long rectangular gem.^[2] The moulding, a small round moulding like an astragal, is recorded from 1723 in the OED;^[2][10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to 1728 and Etymonline to 1731.^[4][3] Johnson (1755) entered the word only as a term of architecture.^[10] Both the loaf and the gem are first found in American newspapers of 1917;^[2] Etymonline dates the loaf to 1922 and the gem to 1923.^[3] The Shorter Oxford dates the gem to the early 20th century and the loaf to the mid-20th.^[7] In later use a baguette was also a sandwich made of such bread, and since 1998 also a small rectangular handbag.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1683 – a rod or wand.^[2]
• 1723 – in architecture, a small moulding of semicircular section.^[2]
• 1917 – a long thin loaf of white bread with a crisp crust.^[2]
• 1917 – a gem cut in a long rectangular shape.^[2]
• 1998 – a small rectangular handbag with a short strap.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long, narrow loaf of French bread with a crisp crust; also a sandwich made with one.^[6][8][2]
2. A gem, usually a diamond, cut as a long narrow rectangle; also this shape.^[6][4][2]
3. In architecture, a small moulding of semicircular section, smaller than an astragal.^[4][6][2]
4. A slim rectangular handbag with a short strap.^[8][2]
5. A very small, narrow rectangular watch movement, or a wristwatch with one.^[4]

Related words

• bacillus

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.