Wiktionary

burgeon

English

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WOTD – 24 February 2008

Etymology

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From Middle English burjon, burioun (“shoot, bud”), from Anglo-Norman burjun, burgeon, burgon (compare Old French burjon (“a bud”)), from Old Frankish *burjo (“sprout, offshoot, descendant”), from Proto-Germanic *burjô (“sprout, descendant, offshoot”), from Proto-Germanic *burjaną (“to raise up”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-. Compare Old High German burjan, burien, burren (“to push up, raise”), Old English byrian (“to come up, occur”), Old English byre (“child, son, descendant”), Albanian buron (“sprout, spring, gush out”). More at bear.

Alternate etymology derives Old French burjon (“bud”) from Vulgar Latin *burrionem, accusative of *burrio, from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff”) (presumably from the down covering certain buds).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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burgeon (plural burgeons)

  1. (obsolete) A bud, sprout, shoot.

Translations

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Verb

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burgeon (third-person singular simple present burgeons, present participle burgeoning, simple past and past participle burgeoned)

  1. (intransitive) To grow or expand.
    Synonyms: blossom, expand, grow, sprout
    Gradually, the town burgeoned into a thriving city.
  2. (intransitive) To swell to the point of bursting.
  3. (intransitive, archaic) Of plants, to bloom, bud.
    Synonyms: blossom, bud, green, sprout

Derived terms

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Translations

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