Etymologically
Log in

bomb

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 21:32. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /bɒm/, US /bɑːm/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French bombe,[2][3][4] from Italian bomba,[2][3] probably from Latin bombus (“a deep, hollow noise; a buzzing or booming sound”),[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek βόμβος (bómbos, “deep hollow sound, booming, humming”), of imitative origin,[2][3][4] so probably named from the sound it makes.[3] An earlier bome, 1588, translated Spanish bomba in a history of China.[2][5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged traces the Romance words in part to an echoic base bomb-, as in Greek bómbos and Old Norse bumba “drum”.[6] It is related to boom.[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

An explosive projectile, at first a hollow iron ball filled with gunpowder and fired from a mortar: 1684 in the OED and Barnhart,[5][2] the 1580s in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

The first bombs were what would now be called shells,[7] and the casings were called bombshells from 1708,[2] the early 18th century in Word Origins, before the word came to mean a sudden surprise or an attractive woman.[7] The verb, to fire bombs at, is from 1688;[5][2] Etymonline notes that the Century Dictionary marked it archaic in 1889 before its revival in the 20th century.[3] The modern sense of an explosive device placed by hand or dropped from an aircraft is from 1909,[3][5] and bomber from 1915.[2] The bomb, the atomic bomb, is from 1945 in Barnhart and Etymonline, but 1932 in the OED.[2][3][5] In slang it meant a success from 1954 and, especially in American use, a failure from 1961 or 1963;[3][5] the verb bomb, to fail, is from 1963,[3][5] bombed, drunk, from 1956,[3] and late 1990s slang the bomb, the best, is probably a new formation.[3] An old car is from 1953.[3]

Timeline

  • 1588 – a ball of wildfire, translating Spanish.[5][2]
  • 1684 – an explosive shell.[5][2]
  • 1688 – verb, to bombard.[5][2]
  • 1708 – bombshell.[2]
  • 1909 – a placed or dropped explosive device.[3][5]
  • 1915 – bomber.[2]
  • 1945 – the bomb, the atomic bomb.[2][3]
  • 1954 – a success.[3][5]
  • 1963 – verb, to fail.[3][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An explosive weapon set off by impact, a timer or other means.
  2. the bomb: the atomic or nuclear bomb, or nuclear weapons in general.
  3. A container that releases its contents under pressure, such as an aerosol.
  4. In American football, a long forward pass.
  5. (informal) A complete failure, especially a play or film.
  6. (slang) A great success, as in go like a bomb; also a large sum of money.
  7. (slang) the bomb: something excellent.

Verb

  1. To attack or destroy with bombs; to bombard.
  2. (informal) To fail completely.
  3. (informal) To move very fast.

Word family

  • bombing
  • bombable
  • A-bomb
  • bomblet
  • bombload
  • bombsight
  • firebomb
  • bomber
  • bombshell
  • bombard
  • boom

References

  1. ^ 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 f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c 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 Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press