Etymograph

English

bachelor

Bachelor comes from Old French bacheler ‘young man’, and goes back to Medieval Latin baccalārius ‘unenfeoffed vassal, knight with no retainers’.

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500baccalārius1‘unenfeoffed vassal, knight with no retainers’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bacheler1‘young man’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bacheler1‘young man’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1632bachelor1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English bachelor
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1632, The Magnetick Lady: Or, Humors Reconcil’d. A Comedy […]: “A bachelor still, by keeping of your portion :…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500baccalāriusWiktionary, English bachelor‘unenfeoffed vassal, knight with no retainers’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bachelerWiktionary, English bachelor‘young man’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bachelerWiktionary, English bachelor‘young man’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1632bachelorWiktionary, English bachelor. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1632, The Magnetick Lady: Or, Humors Reconcil’d. A Comedy […]: “A bachelor still, by keeping of your portion :…”

Linked words

through Latin vacca ‘cow’

vaccine, vaccination, 9 more

Today it means

noun A person, especially a man, who is socially regarded as able to marry but has not yet.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bachelor”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Medieval Latin baccalārius / bachelor

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