Etymograph

English

bob

Bob comes from Middle English bobben ‘to move up and down or back and forth’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bobben1‘to move up and down or back and forth’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1531bob1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English bob
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1531, Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library): “And if any man hapned, by longe sittynge, to…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bobbenWiktionary, English bob‘to move up and down or back and forth’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1531bobWiktionary, English bob. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1531, Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library): “And if any man hapned, by longe sittynge, to…”

Every English word from Middle English bobben

Another origin of bob

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bobbe‘a cluster (of fruit)’
  2. Englishtodaybob

From Middle English bobbe (‘a cluster (of fruit); a twig with its leaves, a spray’), perhaps of Celtic origin (compare Irish baban "tassel, cluster," Gaelic babag).

Today it means

verb To move gently and vertically, in either a single motion or repeatedly up and down, at or near the surface of a body of water, or similar medium.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bob”. 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 English bobben / bob

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