Etymologically
Log in

bass

Etymology and origin of the English word bass

History Permalink

English has two main words spelled bass: the fish, pronounced /bæs/, and the low voice or part in music, pronounced /beɪs/.[1][2][3]

bass1 fish

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1400
Inherited from
Old English bærs
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic (*bars-)

Pronunciation

Etymology

The fish is Middle English bace, base, an alteration of dialectal barse,[3][4][5] inherited from Old English bærs (“perch”),[3][2][5] cognate with Middle High German bars and Dutch baars,[4][3] from Proto-Germanic *bars- (“sharp”), from PIE Proto-Indo-European *bʰar- (“point, bristle”), and related to bristle; it was named for its spiny dorsal fins.[5] For the loss of the -r- compare dace.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The common perch or a related fish: about 1400 in Etymonline,[5] about 1410 in Barnhart,[3] about 1440 in the OED.[6]

Semantic evolution

The European sea bass, a marine fish of the perch family, is named from 1530.[6] In North America the name passed to several unrelated freshwater fishes, such as the black bass (1840).[6][7] The spelling bass was not fully settled until the mid-19th century.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1400 – bace, the perch.[5][3]
  • 1530 – the sea bass.[6]
  • 1602 – the form basse.[3]
  • 1840 – the black bass of North America.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Any of various spiny-finned freshwater fishes of North America, related to the sunfishes.
  2. Any of various marine fishes of the perch family, such as the sea bass.

Word family

  • sea bass
  • striped bass
  • black bass

bass2 low voice or part in music

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1390
Ultimate origin
Late Latin (bassus)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /beɪs/[1]

Etymology

The musical term is from Middle English bas, bace, a form of base in the sense low,[3][4][5] from Late Latin bassus (“short, low”);[5][3] the spelling was altered in the 16th century under the influence of Italian basso,[3][4][2] and of French basse.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of things, low, not high: the late 14th century in Etymonline,[5] about 1390 in Barnhart.[3]

Semantic evolution

Of sound, low or soft, it is from about 1450, a sense now obsolete,[6][8] and deep-sounding, low in the musical scale, from 1533.[6] The noun, the lowest part in harmonized music, is from about 1500,[5] before 1500 in Barnhart;[3] a singer with a bass voice is from the 1590s,[5] the bass viol from 1702, and the double bass from 1927.[5] The spelling bass appears in Shakespeare's 1 Henry IV (1596) but was not fixed until the 19th century.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1390 – bace, low.[3]
  • c. 1500 – the lowest part in music.[5][3]
  • 1533 – deep-sounding.[6]
  • 1590s – a bass singer.[5]
  • 1702 – the bass viol.[5]
  • 1927 – the double bass.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The lowest part in harmonized music.
  2. The lowest male singing voice, or a singer with such a voice.
  3. An instrument of the lowest range, especially a double bass or bass guitar.
  4. The low-frequency part of reproduced sound, or the control for it.

Adjective

  1. Low in pitch; deep-sounding.

Word family

  • bass guitar
  • double bass
  • bass clef
  • bassist
  • base
  • basso
  • bristle
  • bast

Usage notes

A third, minor word bass, the fibre of the lime or linden tree and things made of it, is an alteration of bast (late 17th century).[4][8][2] In mining bass is also a term for dark shale (1686).[6][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Bass.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/bass. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·