Etymograph

English

bail

Bail comes from Old French bailler ‘to deliver or hand over’, from Latin bāiulō ‘carry or bear’, and ultimately from baiulus ‘one who bears burdens, porter, carrier’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbaiulus1‘one who bears burdens, porter, carrier’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbāiulō2as bāiulāre‘carry or bear’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bailler2‘to deliver or hand over’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500baille2
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590bail2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin baiulo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English bail
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book VII, Canto VI: “Silly Faunus now within their baile.”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbaiulusWiktionary, Latin baiulo‘one who bears burdens, porter, carrier’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbāiulōWiktionary, English bailas bāiulāre‘carry or bear’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400baillerWiktionary, English bail‘to deliver or hand over’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bailleWiktionary, English bail
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590bailWiktionary, English bail. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book VII, Canto VI: “Silly Faunus now within their baile.”

Every English word from Latin baiulus

Another origin of bail

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰewgʰ-‘to bend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*beuganą‘to bow, bend’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*baugijaną‘to bend, bow’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*baugijan‘to (cause to) bend, to make bent’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150bīeġan‘to bend or curve’
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150bīeġels‘arch’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500beyle
  8. Englishtodaybail

Another origin of bail

  1. Frenchc. 1600–presentbaillier
  2. Englishtodaybail

Today it means

noun Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bail”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin baiulo. 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 / Latin baiulus / bail

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