English
balloon
Balloon may come from Middle French ballon ‘large ball’.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English balloon
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1786, John Jeffries, Jean-Pierre Blanchard: “We immediately threw out all the little things we…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600ballonWiktionary, English balloon‘large ball’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1786balloonWiktionary, English balloon. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1786, John Jeffries, Jean-Pierre Blanchard: “We immediately threw out all the little things we…”
The story
First use appears c. 1591, "a game played with a large, inflated leather ball" (possibly via Middle French ballon) from Italian pallone (‘large ball’) from palla (‘ball’), from Lombardic *palla. The Northern Italian form, balla (‘ball-shaped bundle’), today a doublet, likely derived from Old French balle, from Frankish *balla (‘ball’), and may have influenced the spelling of this word. Both Germanic words are from Proto-Germanic *ballô (‘ball’), *balluz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰoln- (‘bubble’), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (‘to blow, swell, inflate’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ‘to sound’
bowl, bell, bold, bull, flame, boil, blaze, blush, blur, blizzard, bleach, bolster, bald, budge, sabha, bale, blemish, bola, phlegm, bolero, blithe, blain, bleat, phallus, phlox, 72 more
through Middle French ballon ‘large ball’
Today it means
noun An inflatable buoyant object, often (but not necessarily) round and flexible.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “balloon”. 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 / Middle French ballon / balloon