Etymology

boil

B3O1I1L1

Today it means: A localized accumulation of pus in the skin, resulting from infection. Full definition →

Middle English bile ← Old English bȳl ← Proto-Germanic *būlijō
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boil · noun1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*būlijō
  2. Old English · inherited frombȳl
  3. Middle English · inherited frombile
  4. English todayboil

From Middle English bile, büle (“boil, tumor”), from Old English bȳl, bȳle (“boil, swelling”), from Proto-Germanic *būlijō, *būlō (“boil”). Akin to Dutch buil (“boil, swelling”), German Beule (“boil, hump”), Icelandic beyla (“swelling, hump”). The expected form is bile; the rounding of the diphthong could be caused by the initial b- and/or by association with etymology 2.

boil · noun, verb2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bew-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*bʰel-der.?
  3. Latinbulla
  4. Latinbulliō
  5. Old Frenchboillir
  6. Middle Englishboillen
  7. English todayboil

From Middle English boillen, from Old French boillir (see French bouillir) from Latin bullīre (“to bubble, boil”), from bulla (“bubble”). Displaced native Old English weallan (intransitive) and wiellan (transitive). More at wall, well.

Words from the same roots

Old Frenchboillir all →

bouillon

Latinbullīre all →

budgebouillonbullitiongarboil

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.