bacon

bacon · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰeg-“back, buttocks; to vault, arch”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*bakô
3. Frankish · derived from*bakō“ham, flitch”
4. Middle English · inherited frombacoun“meat from the back and sides of a pig”
5. English todaybacon

From Middle English bacoun (“meat from the back and sides of a pig”), from Anglo-Norman bacon, bacun (“ham, flitch, strip of lard”), from Old Low Frankish *bakō (“ham, flitch”), from Proto-Germanic *bakô, *bakkô (“back”), an extension of *baką, whence English back, which see for more. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“back, buttocks; to vault, arch”). Cognate with Old Saxon baco (“back”), Dutch bake (“ham, side of bacon”), Old High German bahho (“ham, side of bacon”), whence German Bache f (“wild sow”), Alemannic German Bache m (“bacon”). (police): Extension of pig (“police”).

Bacon · proper noun²

1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*bēganą“to fight”
2. English todayBacon

* As an English and French surname, from the noun bacon. * Also as an English, French, and Norman surname, from the Germanic personal name *Bahho, from Proto-Germanic *bēganą (“to fight”).

Words from the same roots