Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
bouc. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
bouc, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
bouc in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
bouc you have here. The definition of the word
bouc will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
bouc, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
French
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French bouc (“male goat”), from Old French buc (“male goat”), from Latin buccus, perhaps from the confluence of Frankish *bukk (“male goat”) (compare Old Dutch buck (“male goat”)), from Proto-Germanic *bukkaz, *bukkô (“male goat”), and Gaulish *bukkos (“male goat”) (compare Middle Breton bouch (“goat”), Old Cornish boch (“goat”), Old Irish boc (“buck”)), from Proto-Celtic *bukkos (“goat”), both from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuǵ- (“goat, buck, ram”). More at buck.
Pronunciation
Noun
bouc m (plural boucs, feminine chèvre)
- billy goat
1845, Hans Christian Andersen, La Bergère et le Ramoneur:Au milieu de l’armoire on voyait sculpté un homme d’une singulière apparence : il ricanait toujours, car on ne pouvait pas dire qu’il riait. Il avait des jambes de bouc, de petites cornes à la tête et une longue barbe. Les enfants l’appelaient le Grand-général-commandant-en-chef-Jambe-de-Bouc, nom qui peut paraître long et difficile, mais titre dont peu de personnes ont été honorées jusqu’à présent.- In the middle of the wardrobe was a sculpture of a man with a peculiar appearance. He was always sneering – you couldn't call it laughing. He had the legs of a goat, little horns on his head and a long beard. The children called him Grand-General-Commander-in-Chief-Goat-Legs. The name may seem long and difficult, but very few people have been honoured with that title until now.
- goatee
- Synonym: barbiche f
Derived terms
References
- ^ Gilles Ménage (1750) Dictionnaire étymologique de la Langue Française
- ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 83
Further reading
Middle Dutch
Noun
bouc
- Alternative spelling of boec
Middle French
Etymology
Old French buc, boc; see above.
Noun
bouc m (plural boucs)
- male goat