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baloney

Etymology and origin of the English word baloney

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bəˈləʊni/ (UK); /bəˈloʊni/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is a variant of bologna, the sausage,[2][3][4][5][6] reflecting its popular pronunciation,[4][6] from Bologna in Italy.[3] Etymonline notes that the slang sense may have been influenced by blarney.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a spelling of bologna sausage (1894).[4]

Semantic evolution

By 1915 the word meant an idiot,[4][6] and around 1920 an inferior prizefighter.[3][4] The sense of nonsense is recorded from 1922,[4][5] and was popularized in the early 1930s by Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York.[4] Barnhart suggests the sense came from the sausage as a type made of odds and ends,[3][4] following a long habit of applying food words to people, such as ham and pudding-head.[3]

Timeline

  • 1894 – spelling of bologna.[4]
  • 1915 – an idiot.[4][6]
  • 1920 – an inferior boxer.[3][4]
  • 1922 – nonsense.[4][5]
  • 1928 – the OED's and Barnhart's date for nonsense.[7][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Pretentious nonsense; bunkum.
  2. Bologna sausage.

Interjection

  1. Nonsense!

Word family

  • phony-baloney
  • bologna
  • blarney
  • bunkum

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Baloney.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/baloney. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

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