English
bureau
Bureau is borrowed (uncertainly) from French bureau, originally ‘baize desk cover’, from Old French burel ‘woolen cloth’, from Late Latin burra.
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEburra1‘wool, shaggy cloth’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400*bure1reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400burel1‘woolen cloth’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentbureau1‘desk; office’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 2010bureau1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English bureau
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2010, Ellie Nielsen, Buying a Piece of Paris: A Memoir: “Both my ability to comprehend what is being said…”.
Lineage
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEburraWiktionary, English bureau‘wool, shaggy cloth’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400*bureWiktionary, English bureaureconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400burelWiktionary, English bureau‘woolen cloth’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentbureauWiktionary, English bureau‘desk; office’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 2010bureauWiktionary, English bureau. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2010, Ellie Nielsen, Buying a Piece of Paris: A Memoir: “Both my ability to comprehend what is being said…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with bureau, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥ ‘fire’
through Proto-Hellenic *pāwər
- pyroclastic ← πῦρ
through Ancient Greek πῦρ ‘a funerary fire’
through Latin burrus ‘flushed, red’
41 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun An administrative unit of government; office.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “bureau”. 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 / Late Latin burra / bureau