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boulot

Etymology and origin of the French word boulot

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inherited borrowed derived
Latin bulla
French boule
French boulot
Latin bullio
English ebullient
Latin bullesco

boulot1 plump

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1830, Supplément aux Mémoires de Vidocq
Ultimate origins
Latin (bulla)French (-ot)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bu.lo/[1]

Forms

boulot (feminine boulotte)[2]

Etymology

The adjective “plump” is from French boule + -ot.[3][4][5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1830, in a supplement to the memoirs of Vidocq, meaning “short and chubby”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Bescherelle records it in 1845, and Littré marks it as popular.[2][6] As a noun it named an oblong four-pound loaf, pain boulot; in popular use du boulot (1879) also meant food, the sense of the verb boulotter “to eat”.[2][5][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1830 – “Short and chubby”.[3]
  • 1845 – In Bescherelle's dictionary.[2]
  • 1879 – Boulot “food”.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (familiar) Short and plump, chubby: une femme boulotte.[5][8]

Noun

  1. Une boulotte: a plump little woman.[5][6]
  2. (dated) An oblong loaf, pain boulot.[2][9]

boulot2 work

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1881 (bouleau, “fight”)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bu.lo/[1]
  • IPA: /bu.lɔ/[1]

Forms

boulot m (plural boulots)[1] First written bouleau (1881), then boulot (1892).[10]

Etymology

The noun “work” is of uncertain origin.[10][2] The Robert dictionaries and Wiktionary take it as a back-formation from boulotter, in its old sense “to get along, jog along”, a diminutive of bouler (“to roll”), Bloch and Wartburg say the development is not clear.[4][5][1][7] Rey thinks the earliest attested sense, “action, fight” (1881), points rather to boule and “bouler”; he finds the derivation from the tree bouleau, whose wood is hard to work, unfounded, though a foresters' phrase “abattre du bouleau” cannot be ruled out.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

In slang, written bouleau, it first meant a fight (1881).[10][4]

Semantic evolution

About 1900 it spread in familiar speech as “work, job, trade”, probably under the influence of boulotter, which had meant “to work” (1844) before being replaced by boulonner.[10][4] About 1920 slang used it for a worker.[10] Boulot boulot, of someone who thinks only of work, is recorded in 1931.[11][10] Pierre Béarn's 1951 poem gave the phrase métro, boulot, dodo for the daily grind.[1]

Timeline

  • 1881 – Bouleau “fight”.[10]
  • 1892 – The spelling boulot.[10]
  • 1900 – “Work”.[4][5]
  • c. 1920 – “A worker”.[10]
  • 1931 – Boulot boulot.[11]
  • 1951 – Métro, boulot, dodo, Pierre Béarn.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (familiar) work: aller au boulot, du bon boulot.[5][1]
  2. (familiar) A job: chercher du boulot, un petit boulot.[1][5]
  3. Métro, boulot, dodo: the daily grind.[1]

Adjective

  1. (familiar) Boulot boulot: hard-working, always thinking of work.[5][9]
  • boule
  • boulotter
  • bouler
  • boulonner

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c 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
  4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
Cite this entry

“Boulot.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/boulot. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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