Etymologically
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buffet

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buffet1 blow, to strike

Pronunciation

  • /ˈbʌfɪt/, /ˈbʌfət/[1]

Etymology

The blow is inherited from Middle English buffet, also bofet,[2] borrowed from Old French buffet, also bufet,[3][4][5][6] a diminutive of buffe (“a blow, slap; puff of wind”),[4][7][8][5][9] the source of buff1 "a blow".[3][9] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from the second half of the 12th century.[10] Barnhart calls buffe of uncertain origin and cites Bloch and Wartburg, for whom the sense "blow, slap" may be onomatopoeic;[5] Etymonline and Hoad take it as imitative of the sound of something soft being struck,[4][6] and Weekley compares German puffen (“to jostle”).[11] The verb is inherited from Middle English buffeten,[2][7] borrowed from Old French buffeter (“to strike, slap”),[4][7][8][5] itself from the noun;[4][5] the OED takes the English verb as formed from the noun, comparing the French verb.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A blow struck with the fist or hand, and to strike so: both probably before 1200 in the Ancrene Riwle,[5] whose manuscript the OED dates to about 1225.[3] The MED also quotes the early 13th-century Wooing of Our Lord: "Alle þa buffetes and ta bali duntes þat tu þoledest".[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English a buffet could also be a stroke with a weapon.[2] From about 1400, in Cleanness, it was used figuratively of anything that strikes like a blow.[3][2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a blow with the fist; a box on the ear" and quoted Hamlet on "fortune's buffets and rewards".[12] Shakespeare used the verb for beating back the waves and, intransitively, for fighting or struggling;[3] from 1734 it meant to force a way by buffeting.[3] From 1753 bell-ringers spoke of buffeting bells, that is muffling them, perhaps from a separate source.[3] In 1951 the noun entered aeronautics for the shaking of an aircraft by the airflow.[3][7][8] In some Midland dialects it meant a blow with something soft, such as a handkerchief in a game of forfeits.[13]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – noun, a blow, and verb, to strike, in the Ancrene Riwle.[5][3]
  • c. 1400 – figurative, a blow of fortune.[3]
  • before 1593 – the verb used figuratively.[3]
  • before 1616 – to contend with waves; to fight or struggle.[3]
  • 1734 – to drive or force by buffeting.[3]
  • 1753 – to muffle bells.[3]
  • 1951 – aeronautics, the shaking of an aircraft.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A blow, especially one struck with the hand; a slap or cuff.[7][8][3]
  2. A heavy blow from any source, as of wind or waves, or a misfortune: the buffets of a hard life.[7][3]
  3. (aeronautics) The shaking of an aircraft caused by disturbed airflow; buffeting.[7][8][3]

Verb

  1. To strike repeatedly; to batter: Gales buffeted the island for three days.[7][8][3]
  2. To strike with the hand; to cuff or slap.[7][3]
  3. To struggle against: The swimmers buffeted the waves.[7][3]
  4. To force one's way, or move something, by blows or pushing: He buffeted his way through the crowd.[7][3]

Word family

  • buffeter
  • buffeting

buffet2 sideboard; self-service meal

Pronunciation

  • /ˈbʊfeɪ/, /ˈbʌfeɪ/, /bəˈfeɪ/[1]

Etymology

The sideboard is borrowed from French buffet,[3][5][4][6][7] from Old French bufet (“bench, stool, sideboard”), recorded in the 12th century,[4][14][15] which is of unknown or uncertain origin.[3][4][6][9][16] Weekley notes that in the 13th century the Old French word was used of a bench for displaying goods.[11] Barnhart allows an Italian source, and Weekley compares Italian buffetto;[5][11] Barnhart also reports the suggestion that it is a special use of buffet (“a blow”), in some dialects "bellows", but finds no clear link in meaning.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sideboard or side table for displaying china and plate: 1718.[3][5][4] Merriam-Webster dates its first known use to 1707.[7]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century the word was often spelt beaufet or beaufait, for no clear reason;[3][11] the spelling beaufet survived in dialect for a corner cupboard with glass doors.[13] By about 1720 it also meant a recessed cupboard for china and glasses.[3] From 1792 it was a refreshment bar,[3][4] and in 1887, first in the United States, a railway carriage with such a bar.[3][4] In 1888 Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management used collocations such as buffet supper for refreshments laid out on the sideboard,[3] and Barnhart dates the sense of a meal at which guests serve themselves to the late 1800s.[5] Merriam-Webster dates the adjective "served informally" to 1898.[7]

Timeline

  • 1707 – first known use in Merriam-Webster.[7]
  • 1718 – a sideboard for china and plate.[3][5]
  • before 1720 – a cupboard in a recess for china and glasses.[3]
  • 1792 – a refreshment bar.[3][4]
  • 1887 – a railway buffet car.[3][4]
  • 1888 – buffet supper and similar meals.[3]
  • 1898 – adjective, served informally, as from a buffet.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A meal at which guests serve themselves from dishes set out on a table: We had a buffet after the wedding.[17][8][3]
  2. A counter or room where light meals and drinks are sold, especially at a station; a buffet car.[17][7][3]
  3. A sideboard.[17][7][3]
  4. A cupboard or set of shelves for displaying china and glass.[7][3]

Adjective

  1. Served so that people help themselves: a buffet breakfast.[7][17]

Word family

  • buffet car

Usage notes

Buffet was also a low stool or footstool, recorded from 1432 and now only Scottish and northern English;[3][8][13] the MED quotes it earlier, in a Latin document of before 1200.[2] The OED treats it as of unknown origin, noting that it is usually assumed to come from the French word for the sideboard, which never had that meaning.[3] In the sense of a piece of furniture Collins also gives the pronunciation /ˈbʌfɪt/.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, 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. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  11. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  14. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  16. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  17. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins