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bœuf

Etymology and origin of the French word bœuf

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
early 12th century, Lois de Guillaume (buef)
Inherited from
Latin bos via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (bōs)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin bos
French bœuf
Latin buculus
English bugle

Pronunciation

Forms

bœuf m (plural bœufs)[1] Old French buef, boef;[2] beuf (Villon, mid-15th century); bœuf from 1534, with the ⟨o⟩ of Latin.[2][3][4] The plural bœufs is pronounced /bø/.[2][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French buef, inherited from Latin bōs (“ox, cow”) (accusative bovem).[2][3][6][1][7] Rey explains bōs as a dialect form preferred to the native Roman development, from an Indo-European word for cattle also seen in Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), Sanskrit गो (gó, “cow”) and English cow.[3][1] Latin used bōs for both sexes; vache took over the female.[3]

Cognate with Italian bue, Romanian bou, Catalan bou, Spanish buey and Portuguese boi.[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Lois de Guillaume (early 12th century) have buef for a castrated bull, an ox.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

By the end of the 12th century it also meant beef as meat (Roman de Renart),[2] whence bœuf à la mode (1651) and bœuf bourguignon.[2][1] Proverbs include mettre la charrue devant les bœufs “to put the cart before the horse” (1579) and qui vole un œuf vole un bœuf.[2][1] Figuratively it is a hard worker (travailler comme un bœuf, 1547) or a dull, stupid person (Molière, 1661).[2]

Saint-Cyr cadets' slang made bœuf an adjective “great, enormous” (1861), as in un effet bœuf.[2][1] In jazz faire un bœuf “to jam” comes from the Paris cabaret Le Bœuf sur le toit, where musicians held jam sessions.[1]

Timeline

  • early 12th century – Buef “ox”.[2][4]
  • late 12th century – Beef as meat.[2]
  • mid-15th century – Beuf (Villon).[2][4]
  • 1534 – The spelling bœuf (Rabelais).[2][8]
  • 1579 – Mettre la charrue devant les bœufs.[2]
  • 1651 – Bœuf à la mode.[2]
  • 1861 – Slang adjective “great”.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An ox or bullock, a castrated bull.[8][1]
  2. Beef: bœuf bourguignon.[8][1]
  3. (zoology) Cattle in general, the bovine species.[8][2]
  4. (jazz) A jam session: faire un bœuf.[1]
  5. (Quebec, slang, derogatory) A police officer.[1]

Adjective

  1. (familiar) Great, tremendous: un effet bœuf.[2][1]

Word family

  • bouverie
  • bouvillon
  • bouvreuil

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 r s Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 445a
  8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Bœuf.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/b%C5%93uf. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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