Etymograph

English

bomb

Bomb comes from French bombe, from Italian bomba, from Latin bombus ‘a booming sound’, from Greek βόμβος ‘booming’, imitative of the sound.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEβόμβος1‘booming, humming’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbombus1‘a booming sound’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentbomba1
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentbombe1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1625bomb1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English bomb
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1625, Ben Jonson: “What over-charged piece of melancholie / Is this, breakes…”.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEβόμβοςWiktionary, English bomb‘booming, humming’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbombusWiktionary, English bomb‘a booming sound’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentbombaWiktionary, English bomb
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentbombeWiktionary, English bomb
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1625bombWiktionary, English bomb. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1625, Ben Jonson: “What over-charged piece of melancholie / Is this, breakes…”

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Today it means

noun An explosive device used or intended as a weapon, especially, one dropped from an aircraft.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bomb”. 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 / Ancient Greek βόμβος / bomb