Etymologically
Log in

bugle

Etymology and origin of the English word bugle

History Permalink
Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
Old French bugle

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈbjuːɡəl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French bugle (“wild ox; horn”),[2][3][4][5] from Latin buculus (“young ox, bullock”),[2][3][4][6][5] a diminutive of bōs “ox”.[2][3][4][6] The musical sense is short for bugle horn, a hunting horn originally made from the horn of a wild ox.[3][4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Middle English bugle meant a wild ox or buffalo,[7][4] and the instrument was first called a bugle horn (c. 1300).[3][4] Bugle alone for the horn is recorded from about 1340–50.[7][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The hunting horn of ox horn gave way to a brass military instrument like a small trumpet, used for infantry signals.[7][5] The ox sense survived only in dialect, as “young bull”.[4][7] Modern French bugle is a 19th-century borrowing back from English.[4] The verb, to sound a bugle, appears in the 1840s and 1850s.[3][4][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – bugle horn.[3][4]
  • c. 1340 – the brass instrument (OED, about 1350 in Barnhart).[7][3]
  • 1840 – bugler.[3]
  • 1847 – the verbal noun bugling.[3][6][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A brass instrument like a short trumpet, usually without valves, used especially for military calls.
  2. (historical) A hunting horn.

Verb

  1. To sound a bugle.
  2. Of a bull elk, to make its rutting call.

Word family

  • bugler
  • bovine
  • buffalo

Usage notes

Two other words spelled bugle are separate: a plant of the mint family (genus Ajuga),[6][7] from Late Latin bugula,[6][5] and a tubular glass bead for trimming clothes, of unknown origin.[2][4][5]

References

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

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Bugle.” Etymologically, 14 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/bugle. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·