Etymologically
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bouquet

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Pronunciation

  • /buːˈkeɪ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French bouquet (“bunch of flowers”),[2][3][4][5] in Middle French a thicket, originally a "little wood".[4][6][2][3] The French word is a diminutive from Old Northern French bosquet (“thicket”),[6][7] a dialect form of bos, bois (“wood, forest”);[5][7][8] Etymonline calls it a Picard form of Old French boschet,[3] and Barnhart also gives the diminutives boscet and bosket.[4] Its base, bosc, is from Medieval Latin boscus (“wood, grove”),[3][9][10] which Barnhart derives from Frankish, comparing Old High German busc (“bush, forest”);[4] Merriam-Webster and Collins call the Germanic origin only probable.[6][11] It is related to Italian boschetto,[2][12] to bush and ambush,[13][14] and English bosket is a doublet.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bunch of flowers: 1717, in a letter of Lady Mary Montagu of 1 April,[2] who introduced it as a French word;[3][4] Barnhart dates her letters 1716–18.[4] Merriam-Webster gives 1701.[6]

Semantic evolution

The French word had first meant a clump of trees or little wood[2][5][8] before it came to mean a bunch of flowers, and Klein compares French bouquet d'arbres (“group of trees, grove”);[9] and Partridge traces the further step from the nosegay to its smell and then to the smell of wine.[15] The sense "aroma of a wine" is recorded by 1815 in Etymonline,[3] from 1846 in the OED[2] and in the mid-19th century in the Oxford Dictionary of English.[8][14] In the same year, 1846, a bouquet was also a bunch of herbs for flavouring, the bouquet garni.[2] Later transferred senses were a large flight of rockets at the end of a firework display (1879) and a rush of pheasants breaking cover (1875).[2] The figurative sense "a compliment", as in to throw bouquets, is recorded from 1904.[2][7]

Timeline

  • 1717 – a bunch of flowers (Lady Mary Montagu).[2][4]
  • 1815 – the aroma of a wine.[3]
  • 1846 – the perfume of wine; a bunch of flavouring herbs.[2]
  • 1875 – a flight of pheasants breaking cover.[2]
  • 1879 – a large flight of rockets in a firework display.[2]
  • 1904 – a compliment, praise.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A bunch of flowers, especially a large, carefully arranged one; a nosegay: The bride carried a bouquet of white roses.[11][6][7]
  2. The characteristic aroma or fragrance of a wine or liqueur; the nose.[11][7][2]
  3. A varied assortment or medley: a bouquet of folk tunes.[6]
  4. A compliment or expression of praise.[11][7][2]

Usage notes

British English has /bəʊˈkeɪ/ and /buːˈkeɪ/, among other pronunciations;[2][11] Collins gives only /buːˈkeɪ/ for the sense of a wine's aroma.[11]

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 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 g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f 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 Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  14. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul