Etymograph

English

lowboy

Lowboy may come from French bois ‘wood’.

  1. Frenchc. 1600–presentbois1‘wood’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1969lowboy1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English lowboy
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ardor: A Family Chronicle: “Puffing rhythmically, Jones set one of his beautiful dragon-entwined…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Frenchc. 1600–presentboisWiktionary, English lowboy‘wood’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1969lowboyWiktionary, English lowboy. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ardor: A Family Chronicle: “Puffing rhythmically, Jones set one of his beautiful dragon-entwined…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to swell, grow’

be, been, possible, future, power, present, build, physical, improve, presence, essential, absence, contribution, bond, bound, physician, entity, approve, probability, absent, favorable, booth, distribute, contributor, fiat, bun, favourable, retribution, attribution, imp, impotent, impossibility, aren, beamer, physic, bower, phylum, phylogeny, approbation, bist, 79 more

through Proto-Germanic *buskaz ‘thicket, brushwood, small wood’

bush, bouquet, rebuke, bosque, busk, 12 more

Today it means

noun A low chest of drawers.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “lowboy”. 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 / French bois / lowboy

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