bureau

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French bureau, earlier "coarse cloth (as desk cover), baize", from Old French burel (“woolen cloth”), diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric”); akin to Ancient Greek βερβέριον (berbérion, “shabby garment”). Doublet of burel and borrel, taken from Old French.

Pronunciation

• enPR: byo͝orʹō, IPA^(key): /ˈbjʊ.ɹəʊ/
• enPR: byo͝orʹə, IPA^(key): /ˈbjʊ.ɹə/
• (US) enPR: byərʹō, byərʹə, IPA^(key): /ˈbjʊ.ɹoʊ/, /ˈbjʊ.ɹə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (New England)

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊəɹəʊ, Rhymes: -ʊəɹə
• Rhymes: -ɪəɹəʊ
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Noun

bureau (plural bureaus or bureaux)

1. An administrative unit of government; office.
   • 2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns‎:

     Ashley Johnson is an energy, trade and economics expert at the National Bureau of Asian Research, based in the United States.

2. An organization or office for collecting or providing information or news.

   a news bureau; a travel bureau; a service bureau; an employment bureau; the Citizens Advice Bureau

3. An office (room where clerical or professional duties are performed).
   • 2015, Victoria Delderfield, Secret Mother:

     There was an eerie silence in the dorm [... in] the factory. [...] The lamp glowed in his bureau, warm and reassuring and, through the window, I could see his papers strewn across the desk. [...] I called his name again. A movement from his bureau. [...] I banged on his door until it opened a crack[. ...] He pushed me out onto the staircase. "Get out," he screamed. The door to his bureau slammed in my face.

   • 2010, Ellie Nielsen, Buying a Piece of Paris: A Memoir, page 17:

     Both my ability to comprehend what is being said [in French] and my ability to fake comprehension have improved expeditiously. Monsieur holds the door open for me as we step inside his bureau. No one looks up as we enter. He offers me a seat, and when I fail to take it he returns to my side of the desk [...].

   • 2015, Dan Riker, The Blue Girl Murders, page 287:

     Nick opened the bureau door and told Joan he was going to find Susan. He walked to the cafeteria, but it was empty. He went back to the bureau, and asked Joan to check the restrooms.

4. (chiefly British) A desk, usually with a cover and compartments that are located above the level of the writing surface rather than underneath, and often used for storing papers.
5. (US) A chest of drawers for clothes.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• “bureau”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “bureau”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Danish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French bureau

Noun

bureau n (singular definite bureauet, plural indefinite bureauer)

1. bureau

Declension

Further reading

• “bureau” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Alternative forms

• buro (superseded)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French bureau, from Middle French burel, from Old French burel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /byˈroː/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bu‧reau
• Rhymes: -oː

Noun

bureau n (plural bureaus, diminutive bureautje n)

1. (furniture) desk
2. (building) office, office building (especially office buildings for writing and publishing journalism and literature, or the police station as a building)
3. (non-commercial) agency (government organisation, such as a police station: "politiebureau"; a scientific or humanities research institute: "onderzoeksbureau"; political party think tank: "wetenschappelijk bureau")
4. (commercial) company (in design, engineering, journalism, communications, marketing, market/opinion research), agency (doing business for another, such as an advertising agency: "reclamebureau"; a news agency: "persbureau")

Synonyms

• (desk): schrijftafel
• (office): bureel, kantoor

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: buro
• → Caribbean Hindustani: buro
• → Indonesian: biro
• → Papiamentu: biroshi, birosji (from the diminutive)
• → Sranan Tongo: biro

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French burel, diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric”); akin to Ancient Greek βερβέριον (berbérion, “shabby garment”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /by.ʁo/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

bureau m (plural bureaux)

1. desk
2. office (room)
3. ticket office
4. the staff of an office
5. office; an administrative unit
6. (obsolete) frieze (coarse woolen cloth)
7. (computing, graphical user interface) desktop (on-screen background)

Derived terms

Related terms

• bourre
• bourgeon

Descendants

Further reading

• “bureau”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.