bourse

See also: Bourse and boursé

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French bourse, from Old French borse, from Latin bursa, from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa). Doublet of purse, compare Danish børs, Swedish börs, German Börse. See also bursar.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɔːs/, (without the pour–poor merger) /bʊəs/

• Audio (Southern England); /-ɔː-/:

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /bɔːɹs/, (without the pour–poor merger) /bʊəɹs/
• Homophone: boss (non-rhotic, pour–poor merger)
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)s, -ʊə(ɹ)s

Noun

bourse (plural bourses)

1. A stock exchange.
   1. (figuratively) Any place, real or imagined, where the value of a thing is settled.
      • For quotations using this term, see Citations:bourse.
2. (philately) A meeting of stamp collectors and/or dealers, where stamps and covers are sold or exchanged.
3. (botany) The swollen basal part of an inflorescence axis at the onset of fruit development; it bears leaves whose axillary buds differentiate and may grow out as shoots.

Derived terms

• interbourse

 

Related terms

• burse

Related terms

• bursar
• burse
• purse
• reimburse

Translations

stock exchange — see stock exchange

place where the value of a thing is settled

philately: meeting of stamp collectors for the exchange of stamps and covers

botany: The swollen basal part of an inflorescence axis at the onset of fruit development

Further reading

• bourse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Brouse, besour, bouser

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French borse, from Medieval Latin, Late Latin bursa, from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa, “hide”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buʁs/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

bourse f (plural bourses)

1. (dated) coin purse

   Synonym: porte-monnaie

2. a purseful of money; by extension, any sum of money available to be paid
3. financial grant
4. bourse, stock exchange
5. (anatomy)
   1. (generally in the plural) the scrotum

      Synonym: scrotum

      • 1805, Georges Cuvier, Les organes de la génération:

        Les testicules [...] sont suspendus au-dessous du bassin dans une espèce de bourse ou de scrotum [...]

        The testicles [...] are hanging below the pelvis in a sort of purse or scrotum [...]

   2. (in the plural, slang) balls

      Synonyms: testicules, (slang) couilles

      Ça remonte à quand, la dernière fois que tu t’es vidé les bourses ?

      When was the last time you emptied your balls?

Derived terms

• bourse d’études
• bourse d’excellence
• boursicaut
• boursicoter
• boursier
• sans bourse délier

 

Descendants

• → English: bourse
• → Persian: بورس (burs)
• → Romanian: bursă
• → Turkish: burs

References

• Nouveau Petit Larousse illustré. Dictionnaire encyclopédique. Paris, Librairie Larousse, 1952, 146th edition
• “bourse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French borse.

Noun

bourse f (plural bourses)

1. bag or purse

Descendants

• French: bourse
• German: Börse

Norman

Etymology

From Old French borse, Late Latin bursa, from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa, “hide”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

bourse f (plural bourses)

1. (Jersey) mermaid's purse
2. (Jersey) shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris)
3. (Jersey) corn salad (Valerianella locusta)

Synonyms

• (mermaid's purse): bourse au dgiâbl'ye, chiviéthe à bras, crapaud d'mé
• (shepherd's purse): pid d'ouaîthé

Descendants

• English: burse